Arsenal have stripped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the club captaincy band.
The Gunners has ruthlessly taken the captaincy armband from Aubameyang, adding that the star striker will not be considered for Wednesday’s match against West Ham.
The forward was withdrawn from the squad that recorded a convincing 3-0 win over Southampton on Saturday after reporting back for club duty late from an approved trip abroad last week.
Arsenal said 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.
“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.”
Mikel Arteta previously said: “I think we have been very consistent that we have certain non-negotiables in the team that we have set ourselves as a club.”
After Saturday’s victory, Arteta who was keen to focus on Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Southampton, rather than the absence of captain Aubameyang said, “You’re not going to get anything else from me. Unfortunately, it happened.
“I explained what happened and the reason he wasn’t involved and that’s where I’m going to stay on it.”
Meanwhile, this is not the first time this has happened with Aubameyang as he earlier turned up late for a meeting before and got left out of the side to face Tottenham.
This stripping will, however, be a problem as the forward was given the club captaincy under Arteta’s predecessor, Unai Emery, and is on a £350,000-a-week contract that runs until 2023.
Considering his age – 32, absolutely no one in the world will be on the queue to get him for that price.
However, it’s a major problem for Arsenal. Who’s going to take him on those wages? Absolutely nobody in the whole wide world. And there’s his age too. If he was 27, they’d be queuing up around the corner for him, but not now at the age of 32.
