The Gabon international hasn’t played in any of the club’s last four games since losing the captain’s armband this month.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has defended his handling of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, insisting all his players must show ‘respect and commitment’ to be a part of the team.
The Spaniard has left Aubameyang out of the squad for the club’s last four matches since stripping him of the captaincy following a ‘
disciplinary breach’ at the beginning of December.
The Gabonese forward is expected to continue training away from the team before departing to Cameroon in January for the Africa Cup of Nations.
These circumstances have drawn comparisons with the way Arteta handled Mesut Ozil’s exile from the team, before the midfielder left the Emirates for Turkish giants Fenerbahce at the start of the year.
What did the manager say?
“I do not establish my authority by being dictatorial or ruthless,” Arteta told reporters when asked if he is too uncompromising in a press conference on Wednesday.
“I just ask for one thing: respect and commitment. At this level, if I don’t get that, I will pack my bags and go somewhere else because that is the minimum I can ask for.
“I am going to expect that from everybody who works for the club. First of all from myself, and the day I don’t do that I will walk through that door and go and do something else. It is as clear as that.
“To be successful you have to be passionate about something and want to represent a club of this size, with its history. That is the minimum standard you have to bring. I am not going to ask anybody to put the ball in the top corner every time they hit it, but I will ask them to do the right things every single day for this club.”
Arsenal return to action on Sunday away to Norwich City in the Premier League.
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