‘Little indication’ of Sunderland man facing consequences – Teammate publicly supports player

Sunderland‘s Granit Xhaka is unlikely to lose his place in Switzerland manager Murat Yakin’s squad, after missing the last international break over his Covid drama.

Prior to Sunderland’s 5-3 defeat to Manchester City on September 20th, the midfielder made all the headlines in the Swiss media.

The Lucerne public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into whether the 34-year-old had received vaccination against Covid or just received the certificate.

Meanwhile, Yakin included the midfielder in his squad for September and October’s UEFA Nations League fixtures.

Sunderland man accepts mistake 

The last international window was between September 21st and October 6th. On the first day, Granit Xhaka said he made a mistake by forging the certificate, and withdrew from the national team.

In the Sunderland star’s absence, Inter Milan’s Manuel Akanji captained Switzerland, who won all four matches.

After Tuesday’s win over North Macedonia, Akanji came to support Xhaka and Aargauer Zeitung have relayed his comments.

“I don’t try to do anything behind his [Xhaka] back. I discuss things directly with him. When Granit comes back, everything will be back to normal. It’s clear that he’ll remain captain,” he said.

At the start of the international break, Swiss FA president Peter Knäbel raised questions on how to deal with the Xhaka case.

Knäbel explained: “We will have to clarify: When is the cup overflowing? How do we deal with a player who is convicted?” 

Aargauer Zeitung says these are important questions, while there is ‘little indication’ of his demotion or exclusion from the squad. That’s because the forged certificate didn’t cause damage to anyone or have a sporting impact on the team.

The former Manchester City defender makes it clear he wants the captain to return to Yakin’s squad.

“I’m not involved in the phone calls. And it’s not my decision. But I want the best players here. We need the best! We all love him (Granit) so much in the team,” he added.

Manager also supports Sunderland captain 

Murat Yakin joined Manuel Akanji to publicly support Granit Xhaka and made it clear he wants the Sunderland captain at his disposal again.

“Manu did a fantastic job. We’ll sort it out amongst ourselves. Granit remains our captain. We’ll discuss it again when he returns in November,” the manager said.

“Absolutely! Peter (Knäbel) has communicated that the door is open. We need the best players in our ranks.”