Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar defends Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka

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Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar is international teammates at Switzerland with Arsenal’s recently criticised star Granit Xhaka.

Newcastle defender Fabian Schar has claimed that there is seemingly a wrong image portrayed of Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, who has been coming under some serious stick in recent days.

Schar made it clear that Xhaka is a ‘very good guy’, but he stated that ‘people don’t see this’ as he defended the actions of the player from the weekend.

The Arsenal captain, who is international teammates with Newcastle’s Schar, reacted in an angry fashion towards his own crowd when he was substituted during Arsenal’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace.

Speaking to Sky Sports News (30/10/19 at 5:15 pm), Schar defended his international teammate and stated that it has been ‘very hard to see’ Xhaka get the criticism he has been receiving in recent days.

“I know how he is, he’s a very good guy,” Schar told Sky Sports News. “I know he’s doing everything for the club, Arsenal. If not, he wouldn’t be the captain.

“That’s very hard for me to see that people maybe don’t see it. It’s very hard for a player if your own fans are against you. I think it’s the worst that can happen to you. Then you do something emotional, which people don’t understand. I can really understand him.

“I am feeling for him. I know him. He’s a very good guy and people don’t see this, at the moment. We will see him in a couple of weeks for the national team, so I will give him a hug.”

Sections of Arsenal supporters have been looking for an apology from Xhaka, but he is yet to do that as he was not part of the Arsenal squad that played and lost at Anfield last night.

Not many would have been expecting Xhaka to play in that game, not because of Sunday’s incident, but because Unai Emery has been playing the youngsters in the EFL Cup.

However, at the weekend, Arsenal return to Premier League action and Emery has a big decision to make as to whether Xhaka, who moved to the Emirates Stadium in 2016 for £35 million [BBC Sport], is in the matchday squad or not.