Arteta on letting Aubameyang leave early for AFCON
The Gabonese captain, Aubameyang, was allowed to leave for AFCON earlier than expected, raising a few eye brows.
EPL clubs have till January 3 to release their players for Afcon. But New Year came early for the Panthers when Arsenal released Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the Gabon national team few days before.
Though, this is a boost for Gabon, who is looking to reach at least the quarterfinals of this year’s AFCON, questions have been raised as to why Arsenal will allow the joint 2019 premier league golden boot winner to leave this early especially with a Man City game later today.
This is what Arteta has to say about the matter in a press release:
“We had a letter from the national team asking permission to get the player and the player wasn’t going to involved today, so for his fitness and to keep competing, it was the right thing to do”.
Aubameyang has not featured for the Gunners since the Everton game, when he came in as a substitute. He last scored for Arsenal in October against Aston Villa.
When asked if the remarkable success they had since the 32-year old was dropped justify the decision.
He said- “For me, it’s not about being right or wrong it’s about making the decision that you believe and deal with the consequences of what you are asking to do and I made that decision and as I said, it will go game-by-game.”
On the national side, Gabon will hope their captain can rise to the occasion and help the team achieve some success in the Africa cup of nations.
Aubayameng who has scored 29 goals in 71 appearances for the Panthers would be key to Gabon Afcon success. And having the star man around in time is a great boost, though the circumstances that surrounds the early arrival is quite unfortunate.
Gabon best performance in the Africa biannual showpiece was a quarterfinal finish in 2012. The Central African side will commence their AFCON campaign against debutant, Comoros on January 10.
