Sokratis Papastathopoulos has slammed Arsenal for how they handled the exit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and says they could have addressed differently it.
The striker left the Emirates for Barcelona in the last transfer window after Mikel Arteta had frozen him out of his team.
He had been struggling all season even though he was the club’s captain and first-choice striker.
It wasn’t his on-field struggles that would eventually lead to his exit, but his undisciplined off-field life became too much for the gaffer and he was banished from the first team.
Auba has rediscovered his goal-scoring touch at Barca and he has been scoring for fun, while Arsenal struggle to find the back of the net.
Sokratis believes there are better ways for players to end their stay at a club, and it is certainly not how it works at the Emirates.
He tells The Sun: ‘Aubameyang is not the only one who left this way from Arsenal, other players also left like that; including myself.
‘I don’t know and personally I don’t think it was the correct choice, the matter could have been resolved differently.’
He adds: ‘[The way I left] Was not the best, I was left out of the team. But it’s a matter I haven’t spoken about yet, I respected the manager’s choice. I spoke with him.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
Aubameyang left Arteta with no choice but to treat him harshly after breaking disciplinary rules repeatedly.
The Arsenal manager is not perfect and will probably learn to treat situations differently in his career, but the team needs individuals who will adhere to instructions and not bring negative publicity around it.