There is no doubt that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was always one of the elite strikers out there and it was a brillian coup when Asene Wenger persuaded him to come to the Emirates, where he continued to score goals for fun after scoring 98 times for Dortmund in just 144 games.
In his first half-season at the Emirates he scored 10 in just 14 games, then 22 in each of the next full seasons. But, after being given a massive wage rise and contract extension, his output deteriorated immediately so Mikel Arteta strangely decided to make him captain, hoping it made the Gabon hitman more committed to the cause.
It didn’t work, and he started getting disciplined by Mikel Arteta for being late to training and it looked like he had no respect for the club or his manager. We all know the bitter way his time at Arsenal ended, but now PEA has given his own full version of what transpired in an interview with @colininterview. Here is his words: ‘It was during the COVID period and we were playing, I think, Everton,’ Aubameyang recalled during an in-depth interview with @Colininterview. ‘My season wasn’t great, we were struggling in the league and the day before the coach told us: ‘Look, it doesn’t matter if we win or not, you have a day off. But if you want to leave, you notify yourself before the match because you have to follow the health safety rules.’
‘My mother a few months before had a stroke, it was going to be Christmas time so I went to see the coach and I said to him: ‘Coach, I’m coming to see you because I’d like to leave, I’m going to go pick up my mother to bring her back for the holidays.’ He tells me no problem. He knew very well what had happened, the day it happened he had already given me permission to go see her. So he gives me authorisation and tells me to check with the doc about the return in relation to Covid.‘I’m going home to Laval, normally I was supposed to leave on the free day and return in the evening rather than the morning of training. My mother had exams to do, I couldn’t leave in the evening so I left the next morning on training day. Once I got there, I had to take my test but in fact I should have done it the day before since I was coming from another country.
‘I arrive, the coach finishes his meeting and then he grabs me and he completely tears into me, he shouts at me like I’m crazy, he says: ‘You put a knife in my back. You can’t do that to me given the times we’re going through.’ At that moment I tell myself that I’m not going to answer him because it’s going to end angrily. I didn’t go partying. He knows very well the reason for my departure so at that moment I don’t understand why he is lecturing me like this.
‘I go home and the doctor calls me and says ‘Tomorrow, the coach doesn’t want you to be there.’ I said ok, I knew the next match was coming and I said to myself: ‘Damn once again everyone is going to talk about it, it’s going to be a mess, what is this crazy thing?’ I couldn’t understand it.
‘The days pass and the doctor tells me: ‘Look, he doesn’t want you to be with the group anymore, but you will be able to come and train but separately.’ I say to myself ok… And then afterwards, he calls me and we have a meeting so he can explain to me that one, he’s taking away the captain’s armband, and two, I’m not training any more with the group.
‘Once again, he explains why he is against me during this period when it was complicated for the club. That I have to be an example and that I couldn’t do that. At that moment, I said: ‘I admit that I have my share of responsibility but the real cause I think you can understand if you are a little bit human. You can understand my move.’
‘After that, it was over, I stayed for a month training on my own while waiting for the break.’‘I’m sure I was depressed. There are attitudes that are seriously different from your daily life. For example, I started drinking a lot.
‘It was a difficult passage. It started a little before I was fired from Arsenal. So yes, it was depression, I think that personally it was related to the state of health of my parents.
“It affects a man, it was difficult. How to get out? Often we say that we have to talk about it, there’s no shame in that.’
So, there is a lot to discuss there from his words, a lot of the club’s version we saw on “All or nothing”, but it was strange that after being rubbish on the pitch for Arsenal, he then went to Barcelona and scored 13 goals in 23 games, and last season he notched up 30 goals for Marseille.
Whatever difficulties he was going through, he showed no respect for Arsenal and cost us a hell of a lot of money.
What is your opinion on PEA’s version of events?
Jack A
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