It seems that we are back into the “Granit Xhaka once a week” mode of writing. The Arsenal and Swiss national team captain just cannot seems to get of the front pages of the sports journals and portals. First it was a monthly long saga of his (un)successful transfer to Roma, then a new contract and a 15 million Ksh wage a week, then a red card in a Manchester City derby, and now, he is Covid-19 positive, because he didn’t want to be vaccinated.Premier League transfer summary: Ronaldo, Grealish, Lukaku and what about Arsenal?The Swiss national team was due to play the international match against Greece in Basel (won 2-1), and Xhaka was diagnosed with symptoms on the morning of the game and was immediately isolated in his room. A rapid test turned out negative, but the subsequent PCR test produced a positive result in the evening. Xhaka stayed out of touch with his teammates all day. He will do another PCR test on Thursday. The canton doctor of the canton of Baselland ordered no further measures for the team because the other players in the senior national team are all either vaccinated or have recovered. A member of the staff had to go into quarantine.(1.23) MOROCCO (5.50) SUDAN (12.0)Swiss FA’s head of communications Adrian Arnold confirmed the player had rejected vaccination.“Granit Xhaka was not vaccinated. He’s a player who isn’t vaccinated. We left this up to each player, it’s a personal decision of each player – just like any other person in Switzerland. We have issued a recommendation that everyone vaccinate. But he decided for himself personally. And it is also his right not to be vaccinated. All the other players in the team have been vaccinated or have recovered [from Covid] – so they are more or less safe, at least from a medical point of view. One is never quite sure. Accordingly, we have a very high vaccination rate. Now, unfortunately, Granit got caught. From a sporting point of view, it is a shame for us at this important moment” said Arnold as per ‘Blick’.Everton star Fabian Delph shares an anti-vaccine post on his Instagram, as Government push for ALL Premier League players to be jabbed by October Delph has been self-isolating after contact with a positive Covid-19 case and missed Everton’s pre-season trip to Florida pic.twitter.com/UJizbhmEov— Lilian Chan (@bestgug) July 28, 2021 As Arsenal’s captain, Xhaka should be an example in the Premier League, but there are other footballers on the same path too. In the middle of July, when some Premier League clubs were thinking of inserting vaccination clauses into contracts as a term of employment, Everton footballer Fabian Delph shared an anti-vaccine message on his Instagram account that claims the human immune system can fight Covid-19 unaided.The Telegraph report that new research conducted across the English Football League (EFL) has shown that a third of players have no plans to get vaccinated. Data seen by The Telegraph shows that around 70 per cent of players at the EFL’s 72 clubs had taken at least one dose of a vaccine or were intending to get jabbed against Covid, leaving 30 per cent with no plans at all to be vaccinated. That figure of 70 per cent correlates with UK Government data which displays that 70 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds had received at least one dose of vaccine.
