Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Arsenal strip striker of club captaincy after disciplinary breach
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy and will not be considered for selection ahead of tomorrow’s match against West Ham.
The decision comes in the wake of a disciplinary breach by Aubameyang last week, when he returned late from a sanctioned trip abroad.
The forward was duly dropped by manager Mikel Arteta for Saturday’s win over Southampton and he has now been stripped of the captaincy.
Last week’s disciplinary breach was the second time Aubameyang has been pulled up for lateness by Arteta, with the other incident occurring in March when the 32-year-old was late for a team meeting ahead of the north London derby against Tottenham.
Aubameyang will not be considered for selection against West Ham and his long-term Arsenal future will now be in doubt, too.
The forward, however, still has 18 months to run on a contract worth around £250,000-a-week.
In a statement today, Arsenal said: “Following his latest disciplinary breach last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be our club captain, and will not be considered for selection for Wednesday's match against West Ham United.
“We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed. We are fully focused on tomorrow’s match.”
After dropping Aubameyang for Saturday’s win over Southampton, Arteta was repeatedly quizzed about the disciplinary breach that had occurred.
The Spaniard, however, refused to discuss the matter and instead only wanted to talk about the match.
Tellingly, when also asked if Aubameyang would stay as Arsenal captain, Arteta replied: “Let’s talk about the game.
