Unai Emery has confirmed that Arsenal have stripped Granit Xhaka of the captaincy and given it to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Speaking at his pre-Vitoria press conference the Arsenal head coach confirmed that the midfielder had been stripped of the captaincy and that our top striker would take his place.
Unai Emery confirms that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the new #AFC captain.
— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) November 5, 2019
Emery offering little public reassurance to Xhaka that he will stay at the club in the long-term
"His future is coming for the next weeks or months, now we need to be focused for tomorrow"
No hint of a commitment beyond January https://t.co/clBV4cRsPh
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) November 5, 2019
Asked if Xhaka will play for Arsenal again, Emery was evasive. “The future is Arsenal’s future,” he said. “We have a very important match on Saturday. We need to take some decisions… My focus is for tomorrow.
“He is our player, we want to respect him.
“We’re speaking a lot about that [if Xhaka wants to leave]. It’s clear. There’s no more words about that.
“I told him and told the other captains. Then the time is giving us the next weeks and months, how we can continue with every player.”
Hector Bellerin, meanwhile, said, “That was the situation with me [the boos]. As you can imagine it was really hard for me, it was the first time something like that happened to me.
“I said to Granit ‘this is like in every walk of life. One day you’re at the top and another you’re at a low.’
“When these things happen to you personally you have a whole squad that can back you… That’s what happened to me then, I had a whole group of players backing me.”
» Arsenal contract talks with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette unsuccessful so far
» Two captains and Xhaka left-out of matchday squad for Vitoria