mdgoonah41 wrote:
Speaking at his Barcelona unveiling Aubameyang said: “My last few months at Arsenal were complicated, that's football sometimes.
“For my part, I never wanted to do anything wrong. My problem was only with Arteta. I can't say much more, I wasn't happy.
“It was just him and he made that decision. He wasn't happy, I can't tell you more. He wasn't very happy, I was very calm.
“Those were difficult months. This is football. I've never wanted to do anything wrong, it's the past and I want to think about the present.”
Aubameyang also said on Instagram that leaving Arsenal “without a real goodbye hurts”.
The Gabon striker said: “I have always been 100 per cent focused and committed on doing everything I can for this club which is why leaving without a real goodbye hurts — but that is football.
“I'm sad I did not get the chance to help my teammates in the last few weeks, but I have nothing but respect for this club and truly wish all my guys and the fans all the best and many successful years in the future!
fuck arteta forever
Does this really tell us anything new?
Seems old news, we all knew there was conflict between Arteta and Auba. All this does is confirm that Arteta has been setting the non-negotiables and enforcing them, at least more so than upper management. To me it's clear indication that Arteta is in the mold of Guardiola, Simeone, etc. in that he's the boss, and he isn't here to coddle you (like the Ancelotti's).
Arteta should have found a way to make this work, but I'm also not buying that this is a result of Auba "being late". More likely is that there are a set of COVID related non-negotiables that Auba broke, including:
'don't catch COVID from unapproved activities' -- Auba seemed to have caught COVID from a party he hosted for his family/children if I remember. Now, in my opinion that's a tough one because how can you ask parents not to let their kids see other's. But we don't have all the details on size of party, testing, etc.
'you have to test in a certain manner' -- Auba definitely broke this one when he flew back too late to take his test at the right time/place. This is the one people allude to him simply "being late", but it's not exactly that.
I probably sound dismissive of Auba, but more so I'm of the opinion that both Auba and Arteta fucked up. 60/40 one way or the other, and when you're in those margins it's hard to say this is just Arteta's fault.
Part of the reason I feel this way is my favorite hockey club got wrecked by the P.1 variant a year or so back, and it was traced back to one player who was neglecting the team agreed standards. This created a huge division in the club as it impacted many of the player's families and one player is still out with long COVID symptoms. I'd be curious how other players felt about Auba's antics....though I doubt we'll ever hear that.
