Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka refused to take the captain's armband in the latter stages of their Premier League clash against Brentford on Saturday.
The controvesial incident happened moments after Alexandre Lacazette was replaced by fellow striker Eddie Nketiah in the 84th minute.
Lacazette, who was named as captain by Mikel Arteta for the London derby, handed over his armband to Nketiah and the England U21 international walked straight over to Xhaka.
The 29-year-old Swiss international then decided to snub his approach before walking away - a decision that brought plenty of reaction on social media, both during and after the game.
Granit Xhaka turns his nose up at the Arsenal armband ©️🤔 pic.twitter.com/NiGt73wx9C
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) February 19, 2022
Nketiah went on to hand full-back Kieran Tierney the armband after Xhaka's refusal to wear it.
Xhaka, of course, was stripped of the armband and dropped from the team following his run in with Arsenal fans during their draw against Crystal Palace in 2019.
Fans memorably booed the midfielder as he left the pitch and in a surprise move, he shouted back, telling them to 'f*ck off'.
Granit Xhaka 🆚 Crystal Palace 🦅:
— D O F (At 🏠) (@theDOFootball) October 27, 2019
🔄 subbed off.
👂 Cups ears to fans booing him.
🤬 Tells fans to f**k off.
👕 Pulls his shirt off.
😬 Goes straight down the tunnel
ARSENAL’ 🔴 CAPTAIN 😬 #ARSCRY. pic.twitter.com/gzK3l1Au7x
Wow. Xhaka subbed for another poor performance - so responds by telling Arsenal fans to ‘f*ck off’, ripping his shirt off & storming down the tunnel.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 27, 2019
And this is supposed to be our CAPTAIN?
What an absolute disgrace.
He should be stripped of the captaincy tonight. #afc pic.twitter.com/iCGxOl9scv
Arsenal fan Piers Morgan hit out at Xhaka after the final whistle of their 2-1 win against Thomas Frank's side.
"Xhaka refusing to take the armband perfectly sums up Arsenal's biggest problem since Vieira left," he wrote on Twitter. "We've never had a proper captain/leader."
Goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Buyako Saka sealed an important win for Mikel Arteta's side as they climbed to sixth in the Premier League, but the incident surrounding Xhaka has somewhat put a damper on the victory.
Xhaka refusing to take the armband perfectly sums up Arsenal’s biggest problem: since Vieira left, we’ve never had a proper captain/leader.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 19, 2022
Thoughts on Xhaka's decision to snub the armband?
Let us know in the comments.
Featured Image Credit: DAZN
Topics: Arsenal, Premier League, Granit Xhaka, Brentford
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