Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is no longer the captain of Arsenal, the London club announced in an official statement on its website on Tuesday. The 32-year-old striker broke the rules on a disciplinary level last week, as a result of which he was missing from the match selection for the home game against Southampton (3-0) on Saturday. Manager Mikel Arteta has now decided to permanently remove Aubameyang from the captaincy. It will also not be used in Wednesday night’s home game against West Ham United.
“We expect all our players, especially our captain, to work according to the rules and standards we have all drawn up and agreed upon,” Arsenal said in a statement on Tuesday. It is not yet known who will take over the captaincy at Arsenal from Aubameyang. There has been a lot of talk in the English media for some time about the alleged lack of discipline on the part of the experienced attacker from Gabon.
An update on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) Dec 14, 2021
Aubameyang was allowed to travel to France last week to visit his ailing mother, but returned a day later than agreed. Aubameyang was therefore not there on Saturday against Southampton. At the beginning of last week, the striker asked Arteta for permission to visit his mother. The Arsenal manager is generally understanding of such family issues and has granted Aubameyang permission to go to France on Wednesday. The condition that Arteta made was that the attacker would return to England that same evening, in order to participate in training on Thursday.
However, Aubameyang did not: he did not return until Thursday morning, after which he reported to the Arsenal training complex. According to sources from The Athletic Although the attacker was on time for training, as far as Arsenal are concerned, the violation had already taken place. Arteta took the view that the conditions for Aubameyang’s trip were crystal clear, and that he simply had not met them. The attacker was told on Thursday that he would not train and that he did not have to report to the club on Friday either. Instead, he trained at home to maintain his fitness.
According to The Athletic, Arsenal fans now fear a saga similar to that of Mesut Ozil. A lingering conflict with Arteta meant that the attacking midfielder, by far Arsenal’s highest-paid player at the time, did not play a minute for the Gunners from the summer of 2020. Six months later, a solution followed, when Fenerbahçe zil took over. The Athletic believes, however, that the bond between Aubameyang and Arteta has not yet been irreparably damaged and that he will return to Arsenal.