Arsenal legends Ian Wright and Martin Keown has called for the reinstatement of team striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang by coach Mikel Arteta.
Wright believes Mikel Arteta could resolve the current crisis with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang by showing some faith in the ostracized striker. Wright noted that the Arsenal manager needs to bring the Gabonese striker back into the fold as he is an important member of the squad.
Aubameyang has been left out of the Arsenal squad for two consecutive match days against Southampton and West Ham United due to disciplinary issues. The London club also announced on Tuesday that the 32-year-old striker has been stripped of his captaincy position at the club.
In an interview with Premier League Productions, Wright said the Spanish manager cannot keep avoiding talking about the Gabonese striker as he would have to deal with the issue at some point.
Wright said: “He’s just not entertaining anything to do with Aubameyang and I totally understand when he says he just wants to concentrate on what happened today and he doesn’t want to talk about it. But I don’t think you can continue to avoid it, especially in the way that it has come about.
“At some stage you’re going to have to quash it or talk about it. He’s got the capability of killing it and saying, ‘Yeah, he’s in the plans and he’s an Arsenal player’, and he didn’t do it.”
Meanwhile, another Arsenal legend Martin Keown has called for the club to resolve the crisis surrounding the ousted captain in a bid to protect his mental health.
“I do feel it was a very bold decision, to pull the captaincy from Aubameyang. It could have been left till the end of the season because I just fear for Aubameyang and how we get him back onto the field,” Keown said on BT Sport.
Keown believes that Arsenal cannot discard the Gabonese striker till the end of the season because of his sheer quality and importance to the squad.
“He’s going to be an important player at some point, you don’t have that sort of quality and just disappear from the group.
That’s my biggest concern. It’s a very bold decision and I would have waited for the summer, it would have been safer to do that. Protect him a little bit, we talk about mental health, we’re not sure of the mental health of Aubameyang right now,” the former Arsenal player concluded.
Arteta is yet to say if Aubameyang has played his last game for the Gunners, only stating that the striker is indefinitely unavailable for selection. The former Borussia Dortmund striker has scored only four goals for the Gunners in the Premier League this season.