Arsenal has finally decided to sell striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang when the transfer window opens in January.
According to ESPN, Arsenal will allow Aubameyang to leave Emirates in January as long as they receive a suitable offer for the forward.
Aubameyang was stripped of Arsenal’s captaincy earlier this month due to a ‘disciplinary breach’. The Gabon international was dropped by Mikel Arteta for a Premier League meeting with Southampton last time out after returning late from a trip abroad thereby missing a pre-game training session.
The Athletic claim Aubameyang was given permission to fly abroad for personal reasons but returned later than agreed and due to Covid-19 protocols, he missed training on Friday.
The 32-year-old has missed Arsenal’s last four matches against Sunderland, Leeds United, West Ham and Southampton.
He currently has 18 months to run on his current deal with Arsenal.
However, Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has not ruled out reintegrating Aubameyang into his squad, but the North London club are willing to listen to offers for the Gabonese international next month.
Aubameyang’s history of discipline issues
The Gabon international joined Arsenal in January 2018 from German club Borussia Dortmund for a transfer fee reported to be worth over $70 million.
Just before his transfer to Arsenal, Aubameyang was suspended and fined by Dortmund for missing a team meeting after training. Some speculated that he did it to help force a transfer, which later materialized.
“It was an important meeting,” then-Dortmund coach Peter Stoger said. “If he does not want to be part of that, another player will be getting his chance. He briefly said that he forgot it, but we all know that’s not the case.”
It wasn’t Aubameyang’s first transgression at Dortmund. He was also reportedly suspended in November 2016 after taking a trip to Milan without approval from then-coach Thomas Tuchel, and in November 2018 German outlet Bild reported that he was late for training on more than one occasion.
Arteta, who took over Arsenal in December 2019, previously dropped Aubameyang from the starting lineup in March 2021 for a derby match against Tottenham after what the club called a “breach of prematch protocol,” but which ESPN reported being a late arrival for the match that same day.
Just a month before that, in February 2021, the club was forced to investigate a potential breach of COVID-19 protocols by Aubameyang after footage appeared on social media of the forward getting a new tattoo. There was no word on the fallout from the story, though the coach explained at the time that the issue was to be handled internally.
