Arsenal have had quite a few problems with Covid that has completely disrupted the beginning of our season, and now we are hearing that Granit Xhaka has had to pull out of Switzerland’s international fixtures after catching the dreaded virus.
This means that Switzerland are likely to be without their captain for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers with Italy and Northern Ireland, which could make things more difficult as Xhaka was the star of the side during the Euros.
It seems that Xhaka’s infection could possibly been avoided as the Swiss FA’s head of communications Adrian Arnold has revealed that the Arsenal man is the only member of the squad that has refused the vaccine so far: “Granit Xhaka was not vaccinated.” he said in Blick.
“He’s a player who isn’t vaccinated. We left this up to each player, it’s a personal decision of each player – just like any other person in Switzerland.
“We have issued a recommendation that everyone vaccinate. But he decided for himself personally. And it is also his right not to be vaccinated.”
He added: “All the other players in the team have been vaccinated or have recovered [from Covid] – so they are more or less safe, at least from a medical point of view. One is never quite sure.
“Accordingly, we have a very high vaccination rate. Now, unfortunately, Granit got caught. From a sporting point of view, it is a shame for us at this important moment.”
Luckily for Arsenal this is unlikely to affect us as he is going to be banned from our next few games anyway and is likely to be completely recovered by the time comes to play…