Gabby Agbonlahor believes it was a mistake to let Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leave Arsenal in January and that will cost the Gunners a top-four spot.
Mikel Arteta had fallen out with the striker at the end of last year and banished him from his first team.
The former Borussia Dortmund man eventually secured a free transfer to Barcelona on deadline day.
This move didn’t affect Arsenal much as the Gunners continued to win matches, albeit by narrow scorelines.
But their push for the top-four has suffered in recent games, and they are currently on a run of consecutive losses.
While they struggle for goals, Auba has continued to score for Barca and former Villa man, Agbonlahor believes allowing him to leave was a mistake.
He tells Football Insider: “The decision let Aubameyang go was criminal. They should’ve kept him and maybe not started him if he wasn’t performing.
“This is where managers earn their money, get Aubameyang back in love with Arsenal and get him scoring goals.
“The big reason Arsenal will miss out on the top four is their strikers. It was a big mistake by Arteta.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Auba was not scoring enough goals for us before he left the club. It is baffling that people think it would have been different if he had stayed.
It probably would have been worse because we could have ended up with an undisciplined striker that cannot score goals.