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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been stripped of his Arsenal captaincy and will not play against West Ham on Wednesday, putting his future at the club in jeopardy.
Mikel Arteta left Aubameyang out of the team that beat Southampton on Saturday after he returned late from a holiday abroad, and the manager declined to answer questions about the player’s role as club captain afterwards. But that was far from Arteta’s first such transgression, and the Arsenal midfielder’s tolerance has run out, as the club made clear in a statement on Tuesday.
Following his latest disciplinary breach last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be our club captain and will not be considered for selection for Wednesday’s match against West Ham United, the club said.
“We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed. We are fully focused on tomorrow’s match.”
Arteta’s decision was made jointly with the club’s hierarchy and comes after discussions with Aubameyang over the past three days. Punctuality issues have dogged Aubameyang in the past, the most high-profile seeing him dropped to the bench for the derby against Spurs in March after he reported late. Similar infractions are also understood to have taken place. Additionally, he was reminded of his responsibilities by the club in February after apparently breaching Covid-19 regulations to get a tattoo.
Arsenal have been sympathetic to other off-pitch issues this year, such as a serious illness to his mother and about of malaria that hospitalised him, but have been compelled to act after that they see as an intolerable cumulation of breaches.
Alexandre Lacazette captained Arsenal against Southampton but his long-term future is unclear and Arteta is short of senior players capable of stepping up. Granit Xhaka’s ill-fated captaincy is unlikely to be repeated over a longer period so players such as Kieran Tierney and Martin Ødegaard, who only turns 23 on Friday but is captain of Norway, may come into the reckoning.
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Aubameyang signed a new three-year deal in September 2020 and is the club’s highest earner. But he has only scored four Premier League goals this season and, given he is due to represent Gabon at the Africa Cup of Nations next month, Arsenal are already prepared for short-term life without him. His prospects of seeing out that deal will be under question now that Arteta has taken such firm action.
