Nicholas believes the Switzerland international is the ‘joker’ at the Emirates Stadium and insists he would have shipped him out of the club before the beginning of this season.
The Swiss joined Arsenal from Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer of 2016 and has mostly been in the news for the wrong reasons.
He was made the club captain by the-then head coach Unai Emery in 2019, replacing Laurent Koscielny who left the club for Bordeaux. Xhaka was later stripped of his captaincy back in 2019 after clashing with the club’s fans.
The 28-year-old was linked to a move away from the Emirates Stadium this summer with AS Roma ready to secure his services but Arsenal refused to sanction the sale and eventually rewarded him with a new contract.
Xhaka got sent off during Arsenal’s 5-0 defeat against Manchester City last weekend for a dangerous challenge on Joao Cancelo.
“He did what he’s always done. He played the joker card. He is the joker of our club,” stated Nicholas, speaking on the Where’s Jeff podcast.
“How he can manipulate Roma into paying £17m… I would’ve personally dropped him off there… And then he signs a new contract.
“When you look at the so-called captain in Xhaka, that’s a cop-out. It was an absolute camouflage [the red card] and it just sums everything up about that football club.
“As much as I want to support Mikel Arteta, I’m finding it harder and harder to justify his choices.”
