On 14 December, Premier League giants Arsenal officially announced that Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would no longer be captain of the team and that he would not participate in Wednesday's Premier League clash with West Ham. Last weekend, Aubameyang missed the Gunners' 3-0 win over Southampton, with head coach Arteta saying he had broken team rules. But I didn't expect the punishment to come so quickly and violently.
In the 14th round of the Premier League away to Manchester United, the Gunners eventually lost 2-3, Aubameyang started the game, 5 shots and 4 positive shots in 79 minutes, although he did not score but performed positively. However, after the game, he did something that made the Gunners fans angry, that is, he praised Ronaldo's celebration, as the captain of the team, this practice is really inappropriate. In the 15th round of the away game against Everton, Aubameyang lost the start and only played five minutes off the bench in the 85th minute, with all two shots deflected. But Arteta's slight punishment did not awaken Aubameyang, but once again broke the scandal of violating the team rules, this time, no one can save him.
In fact, Aubameyang was not the first Arsenal player to be stripped of his captain's armband, as in November 2008, gunners captain Gallas was killed by Wenger for publicly talking about the contradictions within the team, and the captain's armband was handed over to the young Fabregas. In the previous Emery era, Xhaka had also been stripped of the captain's armband because of the conflict with the fans, and later after Arteta took over the coaching whip, Xhaka gradually got out of the predicament, and wore the captain's armband again after Aubameyang was sent off.
This time, Aubameyang bumped into the muzzle of the tartan. In fact, since returning to the Gunners as manager, Arteta has been committed to creating a bloody Arsenal, and in the summer window of this season, the Gunners have introduced a number of valuable young players according to his wishes, in fact, they hope to sweep away the twilight in the team and make the Gunners full of vitality. In this case, as the captain of Aubameyang not only did not play an exemplary role, but repeatedly made out of line moves, tarsier does not repair him who else can he repair?
But even if stripped of the captain's armband, it would be difficult for Aubameyang to leave the Gunners, naturally because of his contract, which expires in the summer of 2023 and his weekly salary of up to £350,000. It's an awkward salary that the club that wants to get him can't afford, and the club that can afford it is not interested in him, after all, he is already a 32-year-old veteran and a restless guy.
So Aubameyang had to learn from Gallas, who was relieved of his captain's armband and regained his peak form in the 2009/10 season. That season was also the closest Arsenal could get to a league title since the unbeaten season in 2003-04. Therefore, as long as Aubameyang changes his mind and focuses on his performance on the field, he may not be able to regain the trust of the coach, after all, he honestly takes two years of high salary, which is better than anything.