A former member of Unai Emery’s Arsenal squad has been promoted to a shock role at his new club.
Emery’s time at Arsenal was short but, in some areas, sweet, with the Spaniard’s role as Arsene Wenger’s successor a tough task.
The Gunners pulled the plug on the former manager’s time at the Emirates after just 18 months.
Now back in the Premier League with Aston Villa, Emery gets a reminder of his time at Arsenal twice a season when he faces his ex-club.
Granit Xhaka named Sunderland captain
Emery was recently haunted by one of his former players, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a pre-season brace against Villa.
On the subject of the Spaniard’s former Arsenal squad, the Villa boss might be quite surprised to have seen a fresh update about Granit Xhaka.
Xhaka signed for Sunderland to make a shock return to the Premier League and, as even more of a surprise, the midfielder has just been named as club captain.
In a statement, Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris explained why he has appointed the former Arsenal man as his skipper.
“In the Premier League, it will be important to have consistency, maturity, and experience. Granit brings all these qualities.
“His behaviour so far has been very impressive, and on the field, you can see that his level is high. Others around him can feel this influence, and his leadership will support the team as we adapt to a different environment and face new challenges and opportunities.
“Granit’s role will also form part of a new leadership team, which will be finalised following the end of the summer transfer window.”
Having worn the armband for his country, Xhaka is well qualified, though, when it comes to the 32-year-old’s experiences as a captain in the past, Emery might be surprised by the news.
Unai Emery’s reaction to Xhaka incident
In some ways, Arsenal still miss Xhaka, who, once fully adapted to the Premier League, was a fantastic servant to Mikel Arteta’s project.
That being said, it’s impossible to reflect on Xhaka’s Arsenal career without mentioning the dark incident that unfolded in October 2019 at the Emirates.
While wearing the armband, Xhaka was booed off the pitch by fans, prompting the midfielder to taunt supporters by cupping his ear, an incident that led to him losing captaincy.
Nine days later, Emery shared his decision to take the privilege away from the player.
“I had a meeting with him and told him he is no longer in the captain’s group; he accepted my decision,” Emery said at the time.
The former Arsenal manager insisted that he ‘needed’ to make the decision, stripping Xhaka of captaincy.
After that moment, very few would’ve envisaged that, in 2025, Xhaka would be back in the Premier League as captain of Sunderland.
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