Granit Xhaka and Jose Mourinho recently exchanged words on social media after it emerged that the Arsenal midfielder had turned down the vaccine, and manager Mikel Arteta has now been asked his stance on the subject.
The 28 year-old returned early from international duty last week after testing positive for Covid-19, before his international boss revealed that Granit was his only unvaccinated player to have joined up with the squad, before he had to be sent home.
Jose Mourinho took to Instagram to urge Xhaka to get himself vaccinated however, simply putting: “Get the jab Granit and be safe”.
Arteta has now been quizzed on his stance on the subject ahead of his side’s clash with Norwich tomorrow, and he insists that getting the vaccine is ‘the right thing to do’.
‘We are trying to explain all the reasons why we believe it’s the right thing to do,’ Arteta said in his pre-match press conference(via the Metro).
‘How much it will protect first of all the club, second of all the teammates and the environment they’re around. The exposure around if they don’t do it.
‘At the end it’s a really personal thing. Obviously they will be limited in certain aspects if they don’t because we don’t want to expose ourselves in certain things.
‘In the end it’s a personal matter, not an obligation and we have to respect that.’
While I believe the players should be vaccinated especially because of how closely they work together in training and in the dressing room etc, you could argue that Xhaka should now be protected after contracting the virus, and should have similar antibodies fighting against it now.
Patrick