Sky Sports' Paul Merson on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: "This is not the first time this has happened. He wouldn't be the captain if I was manager. Absolutely no chance. It's an honour to be captain of Arsenal."
Tuesday 14 December 2021 12:01, UK
Paul Merson says Arsenal have a "major problem" on their hands with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and thinks his former club needed a new captain.
Aubameyang was dropped from Arsenal's squad for Saturday's 3-0 win over Southampton due to what Mikel Arteta revealed was a "disciplinarily breach", and the club announced on Tuesday he was being stripped of his captaincy and won't face West Ham on Wednesday.
Asked why Aubameyang - who did not train with the Arsenal squad on Friday - was omitted from the squad, Arteta 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, and he's not involved today."
It is not the first time Aubameyang has been disciplined by Arsenal and Arteta, having also been dropped from the north London derby in March after reporting late for a team meeting.
This is not the first time this has happened with Aubameyang.
He turned up late for a meeting before and got left out of the side to face Tottenham. He's the example. There are a lot of young players in that team who will look up to him.
He wouldn't be the captain if I was manager. Absolutely no chance. Once, yes. Twice, no. It's an honour to be captain of Arsenal and for me, something's had to change now.
I didn't really get it in the first place if I'm being honest. But it does show you that he sets an example, and the youngsters look up to him. That's why he was made captain.
If you are the manager, of course you'd be disappointed. He's been made captain of Arsenal Football Club. It's a big thing and not just a run-of-the-mill thing. And with all the promising young kids at the club, he needs to set the example.
There are a lot of young kids at Arsenal. They've got a young squad. He's the captain, he's on big wages and he needs to lead by example. This has happened too many times.
How many times do you see Arsenal play well and Aubameyang doesn't play well?
He does set the tone. A couple of weeks ago they played well against Newcastle and he started it all off. He worked his socks off and they follow him.
He's got to set a better example off the field, and fair play to Arteta.
It takes a lot to do something like this, especially when you are on a bit of a run and it's gone the other way.
It's okay when you are winning nine or 10 on the trot and you can make these kinds of decisions a bit easier, but when you are making a decision like that when you are trying to get a result, fair play to him.
I don't see how you can change the team after the Southampton win.
They dismantled Southampton with some very good goals so for me, you keep the same team.
But something had happened before at Everton, where he started on the bench and he didn't get on until the 85th minute. Eddie Nketiah even got on before him.
This is not going to be a problem for Aubameyang because he's got an unbelievable contract at the club.
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.
It's a big problem for Arsenal and Arteta.
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