Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has broken his silence over the removal of him as the club’s captain and his fallout with the manager, Mikel Arteta.
Aubameyang was stripped of the captaincy at the North London club following a ‘disciplinary breach’. The former Borussia Dortmund striker has been left out of Arsenal’s squad by the head coach Arteta, putting his future at Emirates in doubt. He has not featured for the Gunners since their Premier League defeat to Everton on December 6.
The 32-year-old has missed Arsenal’s last four Premier League games. He did not play against Southampton, West Ham, Leeds United, and Sunderland in their Carabao Cup. The forward may now leave Arsenal in January but took to social media to publish a post that many believe takes a swipe at Arteta and Arsenal.
In a post via his Instagram account at the weekend, he posted a photo of himself with his family celebrating the holiday period and wishing his followers a “Merry Cagreed-upon
Aubameyang then completed the post with the hashtag: ‘#FamilyFirst’.
While the caption appears inoffensive, a lot of his followers, Arsenal fans, and members of the media believe that this was Aubameyang positioning himself away from Arsenal. Aubameyang had not posted on Instagram since December 3 and had not made any public comment after returning late from his trip to France to visit his sick mother.
That visit was agreed with Arsenal, but he reportedly returned a day later than had been agreed, although he was still able to report to the club’s training on the agreed-upon date. He had drawn the interest of Barcelona and Juventus in recent weeks and those clubs are likely to sign him in the next transfer window.