Ian Wright is disappointed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had to leave Arsenal, having joined Barcelona this week.
The Gabon international was released from his contract in recent days, allowing him to sign for the Spanish giants on a free transfer, despite having 18 months remaining on his previous Gunners deal.
The striker was stripped as club captain in December after a falling out with the manager, before ultimately leaving north London with bad blood, and fans favourite Ian Wright doesn’t understand why Auba couldn’t have worked his way back into the team. He also claims that he is in the dark as to what has gone wrong within the relationship of the player and manager, despite being close to the new Barcelona signing.
“Even I don’t know what’s gone on and I’m in touch with the guy, we’re tight,” Wright said on The Ringer Podcast. “The way everything has gone, deep down I can’t understand why something couldn’t happen, simply because he’s only just signed. So if everything was going on before, there would have been a lead up of misdemeanours for the manager to maybe say let’s not sign him, and it seems like if you knew there were things that were happening that you didn’t like, then why did we sign and put so much money into him and a year later he’s gone?”.
Ian later admitted that he had been saddened by the departure of Aubameyang, before adding that he will back the manager’s decision.
He added: “I’m very sad on a personal level, because I think he’s made for us. If you have Auba you can structure everything around him to do what he does. I watched his goals for Dortmund not long ago and it was all geared for him. I’m devastated that we couldn’t do that for him, but as much as I love him, you have to back the manager now.”
Auba hasn’t been as strong as in previous seasons, and I believe his progress was dipping prior to his falling out with the manager, and removing his mammoth wage is hard to argue with. Whilst I’m not sold on our transfer window, I can see why Auba has been moved on, and we have to believe that it will be for the greater good in the long run.
Are you saddened by his departure?
Patrick