Granit Xhaka has recalled the time he fell out with the Arsenal supporters and was stripped of the captain’s armband.
The Swiss midfielder became a scapegoat when the Arsenal team struggled at the start of the 2019/2020 season, leading to a significant fallout with the fans.
He was subsequently stripped of the club’s captaincy and came close to leaving the Emirates at the beginning of 2020.
Reports suggested that he had already reached an agreement to join Hertha Berlin. However, Mikel Arteta took over as manager at the end of 2019 and successfully persuaded Xhaka to stay.
The Swiss captain would go on to become an integral member of the Gunners’ squad and remained at the Emirates until the summer.
He has now revealed how close he was to leaving. Xhaka tells The Athletic:
“I had many black days, sitting in my hotel room for away games, realising what had happened… I was completely devastated.
“The club showed me little respect even though I was the captain. It was clear they wanted to get rid of me as quickly as possible, apart from one person: Mikel Arteta.
“When I met him for the first time, my bags were already packed and I was about to hop on a plane.
“With my heart and soul, I had already left the club. I said to him, ‘The solution is for me to go’. Mikel told me he wanted me to stay.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Xhaka’s falling out with the fans was serious and it was just one of the signs that the club needed a new manager to rebuild the relationship between the players and the fans.
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Xhaka has since left Arsenal. So it’s bye bye to him. But I wish him the best at Leverkisen… Meanwhile, let our focus be on the players ) Gunners) at the club. And leave those players who had left Aesenal alone to face their business.
So therefore, let us focus on our Liverpool match business at our hand. And leave Xhaka to face his.
I’m glad he didn’t leave under that terrible cloud that descended on him
He ended his time at Arsenal on a high
Xhaka must be having a blast at Leverkusen. They are undefeated so far this season. It’s nice that he finally came good with us and mended fences with the supporters; but as you allude to that’s the past and we should look forward.
Ok. Listen, I’m glad he turned it around here. But he was pretty awful for the majority of his time here. Can we honestly say Xhaka was a good buy at the end of the day when he was part of some of our worst moments during our banter era?