Arsene Wenger Lets His Feelings Known About The Granit Xhaka Incident

Arsene Wenger has called on Unai Emery to get respect out of his players following the Granit Xhaka incident.

“I don’t talk a lot about Arsenal, I just support them,” Wenger told beIN Sports.

“I’m a supporter who wants a team to win, so that’s all. For me, it’s very difficult to have any assessment on Arsenal because it will be straight away interpreted when you’ve been at the club for such a long time. So I’m just a supporter when they don’t win I’m not happy, when they win I’m very happy.”

When questioned about Emery’s decision to strip Xhaka off his captaincy, Wenger replied, “As a manager, you have to face these kind of decisions.

“We always face the unexpected as a manager, you have to make quick decisions. I think Arsenal Football Club is respected all over the world because it’s built on values and everyone has to respect these values and the manager has to get them to be respected.

“Arsenal, for me, had always had a touch of class, for me football today in the modern era has a huge responsibility on the way we behave, the way were are examples, Arsenal are part of the big clubs in the world and we have to show that.”

On suggestions of how Xhaka reacted might have been wrong, Wenger said, “You can always but it doesn’t mean in any club… it’s not the motorway, ‘You have people with passion, with the pressure they are under, with the disappointment they carry out, they have sometimes reactions you don’t want. But you have to remind people of the behaviour you want.

“I think Xhaka is an intelligent player, contrary to what I heard in recent weeks. Finally, he apologised and that’s what he [Emery] wanted from him.”

Wenger was also prodded on whether he though Xhaka was captain material to which he replied, “He was captain at [Borussia] Monchengladbach. I don’t think he was captain with me, it depends maybe in Europa League games or League Cup games, I don’t know.”