Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy and will be unavailable for Wednesday’s game against West Ham, the club have announced.
Aubameyang had been dropped from the squad for Arsenal’s Premier League win over Southampton on Saturday after reporting back late from a club sanctioned trip to France. This was the third occasion in 2021 in which the striker’s timekeeping was in question at the Emirates Stadium; last season he missed the north London derby after being caught in traffic while on another occasion he returned late from a period of compassionate leave.
It has also been suggested that Aubameyang may have failed to obey COVID-19 protocols on his return to the United Kingdom. Having arrived for training last Thursday, he was sent away from London Colney on Friday and has not reported to the club’s training ground since.
A brief club statement said: “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.”
Sources close to Arsenal have indicated that there have been no further incidents since Aubameyang was dropped on Saturday. The decision to strip him of his captaincy is viewed internally as a culmination of these numerous disciplinary breaches. Mikel Arteta is due to hold a press conference to preview tomorrow’s match against West Ham but the agenda is sure to be dominated by the captaincy.
Arsenal have not named a replacement skipper but it is expected that vice captain Alexandre Lacazette, a close dressing room ally of Aubameyang, will step up to wear the armband and lead the line at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday. Kieran Tierney has also expressed an interest in the armband and the Scotland international is a well-admired figure within the dressing room who is a key cog in Arteta’s future plans. Lacazette, meanwhile, is out of contract at the end of the season with Arsenal yet to engage him in talks over an extension.
This is the second occasion in just over two years that Arsenal have been forced into a midseason change of captaincy. Just prior to Arteta’s appointment, Granit Xhaka was stripped of the captaincy, which was then handed to Aubameyang, after the Swiss midfielder swore at supporters as he was substituted in a draw against Crystal Palace in October 2019. Xhaka has since captained the club though, and could step up to be Lacazette’s vice captain.
Arsenal have had something of a curious relationship with the captain’s armband in recent years. In the second half of Arsene Wenger’s lengthy tenure it was used as something of a sop to convince wantaway players such as Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas to stay at the club. And on one occasion in April 2017 the Gunners manager forgot to name a captain for the second half of a draw with Manchester City after Laurent Koscielny was substituted through injury.
