Granit Xhaka has not been the official Arsenal captain since his controversial incident against Crystal Palace in 2019. Unai Emery made the choice to strip the Swiss midfielder of the armband, and the event nearly ended Xhaka’s Gunners career.
However, Mikel Arteta worked hard to convince Xhaka to stay at Arsenal, and it would be fair to describe his time under the Spaniard as his most successful and best years. His errors and deficiencies remain, but he owns them and has instead emphasised all the strengths that he brings to the team.
Leadership, in particular, was one of those traits. Speaking ahead of the release of episodes 4-6 of Amazon’s All or Nothing series, which features behind-the-scenes footage of Xhaka’s reaction to his red card against Liverpool in the League Cup semi-final, football.london hears from Xhaka that the captain’s armband is not something he needs nor believes in.
