Gabon international manager Patrice Neveu has claimed that Arsenal will refuse to allow Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to play for his country again.
The striker was forced to stay in the airport in Gambia ahead of their AFCON qualifier the next day, arriving at the airport around 11PM local time, and being forced to wait without their passports until around 6AM the next day inside the terminal.
PEA’s Gabon side went onto lose the fixture 2-1 the next day, on the back of a rocky night, and Arsenal are claimed to have been furious with the situation.
Speaking to Canal Plus (as translated by the Metro), the Gabon manager revealed: ‘Arsenal called Pierre-Emerick. After seeing him in those conditions, it’s over.
‘They won’t let him come again, and it will be the same for players from other clubs.
‘It’s understandable. They are high level players and when they come on international duty, they need to have a minimum of comfort.’
He added more to L’Echo Republicain (again via the Metro), continuing: ‘All the players tried to sleep on the airport floor. Imagine if Aubameyang, a player who costs more than €1m per month, gets injured.
‘The English club can be annoyed after what’s happened. To make a player sleep the floor.’
The English publication claims that Arsenal will impose a ban to stop Aubameyang featuring for his country until the Coronavirus pandemic is over with.
You can understand that the treatment of Aubameyang and his teammates is completely undeserving, but should the player wish to continue his international career, the club may have issues enforcing as such.
Do we expect Arsenal to forbid Aubameyang to play for Gabon?
Patrick
No I don’t expect Arsenal to forbid him to play and in any case if we did then FIFA would come down on us hard.