Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was left out of Arsenal’s squad on Saturday due to an incident earlier last week, reports said The Athletic. The 32-year-old captain of the gunners traveled to France with permission to visit his ailing mother, but returned a day later than agreed. Saturday against Southampton (3-0 win), Aubameyang was therefore not there.
Early last week, Aubameyang asked Mikel Arteta for permission to visit his ailing 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 set was that the French-Gabonese striker would return to England that same evening, to be able 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 in 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.
Aubameyang 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. It is still unclear whether Aubameyang will be accepted back into favor by Arteta in the home game against West Ham United on Wednesday evening.
Arsenal fans fear according to The Athletic meanwhile for a saga comparable to that of Mesut Ozil. A lingering conflict with Arteta meant that the attacking midfielder, by far the highest-paid Arsenal player at the time, did not play a minute for Arsenal from the summer of 2020. the gunners. 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.
Related
More sports news