The truth behind Aubameyang and Arteta’s ‘broken relationship’
FT Desk
- 11 Oct 2022 08:20 BST
- 3 min read
Fabrizio Romano has revealed how the relationship between Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mikel Arteta broke down at Arsenal.
Aubameyang fell out with Arteta during his final season at Arsenal in 2021-22 following a string of disciplinary breaches.
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He was frozen out of the first-team squad for the final weeks of his Arsenal career before finally moving to Barcelona on a free transfer in the January 2022 window.
Sensational footage was revealed at the weekend in which Aubameyang slammed Arteta for being unable to manage “big characters and big players”.
What did Aubameyang say about Arteta?
Aubameyang speaking about Arteta’s management. [@ArsenalHarmoni] #afc pic.twitter.com/yq6LzmPuC0
— DailyAFC (@DailyAFC) October 9, 2022
“He can’t manage big characters and big players, he can’t deal with it,” Aubameyang said.
“He needs some young players that don’t say anything, they just listen.”
Aubameyang’s entourage then compared the Gabon striker’s situation at Arsenal to that of Mesut Ozil, who was also frozen out by Arteta before he finally left in January 2021 to move to Turkey.
What did Romano say about Aubameyang-Arteta?
Romano has now explained what actually happened between the pair.
“I think it’s normal to see these kinds of problems between top players and top managers when things are not working,” Romano wrote on his Caught Offside column.
“The relationship was broken in January last season but there’s respect between Arteta and Auba.
“And I’m told Auba has been an excellent professional with both Chelsea and Barca until now, there have never been any problems there.”
Despite an excellent half-season at Camp Nou, Aubameyang moved on again to Chelsea this past summer after Barcelona spent over €50 million to sign Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich.
Aubameyang joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in January 2018 and scored 92 goals in 163 games for the club, winning the FA Cup in 2020.
