{"id":778486,"date":"2026-09-22T03:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T03:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/778486\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T03:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T03:38:15","slug":"chelsea-dodge-bullet-as-transfer-target-faces-serious-punishment-over-faked-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/778486\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea dodge bullet as transfer target faces serious punishment over faked documents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Granit Xhaka was linked with a move to Stamford Bridge this summer only for Sunderland AFC to rebuff Chelsea’s \u00a38million bid for their captain, but it now seems Xabi Alonso has dodged a major headache\"Granit<\/p>\n

Granit Xhaka is under investigation(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Granit Xhaka could face a major fine or even up to five years in prison after claims he obtained fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Switzerland captain withdrew from his international commitments on Monday, on the eve of a quartet of Nations League clashes against North Macedonia, Scotland and Slovenia.<\/p>\n

It comes after allegations that Xhaka<\/a> received falsified documents for the Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic, in a time where immunisation was mandatory for travel.<\/p>\n

Now, the midfielder has opened up about the claims on social media. Taking to Instagram on Monday, he wrote: “Over the last few days, there has been a great deal of media coverage regarding a matter from my past. I would like to comment on this personally.<\/p>\n

“At the time, I was personally very unsettled and had serious reservations about the Covid-19 vaccination. I felt a deep mistrust of the vaccine and was overcome by fears and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

“In this state of emotional turmoil, I obtained a vaccination certificate instead of seeking answers to my unresolved questions through the proper channels. Today, I can clearly see that this was not the right course of action. It was a mistake.<\/p>\n

“I am sorry. I take full responsibility for this decision, am prepared to address the matter fully and will cooperate fully with the relevant authorities.”<\/p>\n

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Swiss Football Association president, Peter Knabel, also explained Xhaka’s decision to withdraw from international duty. He said: “Granit Xhaka informed us about the situation last night and told us that he will address it publicly and take responsibility.<\/p>\n

“We welcome Granit taking this step and facing the consequences. At the same time, we jointly concluded that it is in the team\u2019s best interest to complete this training camp without him. Our priority now is to calm the situation and focus entirely on the team and the upcoming challenges in the UEFA Nations League.”<\/p>\n

It comes as Chelsea<\/a> hoped to sign the Sunderland AFC talent this summer, only for a move to fall through before it had gained any traction.<\/p>\n

Xabi Alonso<\/a> was reportedly keen to reunite with Xhaka at Stamford Bridge, having enjoyed a wealth of success together at Bayer Leverkusen in the not too distant past.<\/p>\n

Chelsea tabled a bid of around \u00a38million for the Basel-born footballer, only for Sunderland to quickly rebuff the offer<\/a>. As a result, Xhaka has remained on Wearside for the season ahead, while the Blues snapped up Jordan Henderson<\/a> for reinforcement to their engine room.<\/p>\n

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And if the severity of Xhaka’s potential penalty – if found guilty of wrongdoing – is anything to go by, then Chelsea have dodged a major headache in failing to sign the Swiss maestro.<\/p>\n

Those found guilty of forging documents in Switzerland are subject to severe penalties, including massive fines or prison sentences of up to five years.<\/p>\n

The Lucerne prosecutor\u2019s office have now launched an investigation into matters, and will look to identify if any criminal laws were broken in Xhaka’s case.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said: \u201cThe aim is to clarify whether there has been conduct relevant under criminal law in connection with the possible fraudulent obtaining of a false certification and\/or document forgery.”<\/p>\n

Xhaka is now set to meet with authorities next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Granit Xhaka was linked with a move to Stamford Bridge this summer only for Sunderland AFC to rebuff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[220,219,14556,129436,218,9735,101,2873,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-778486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-arsenal","tag-chelsea","tag-chelsea-transfer-news","tag-chelsea-transfer-rumours","tag-football","tag-granit-xhaka","tag-sports","tag-sunderland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}