Nigel Winterburn claims that Arsenal’s decision to allow Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to leave in January will not be accepted if they don’t make the top four.
The Gunners allowed a number of players to leave the club in the winter window, whilst failing to add a single player to their current options, casting much doubt on the rest of the club’s campaign.
Auba’s departure was the biggest however, with the former club captain and highest earner having been allowed to leave for nothing, whilst leaving us short of numbers in attack.
Winterburn now believes that fans will not accept the decision if his side now miss out on the top-four.
“Everyone is scratching their heads over Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s departure from Arsenal,” the former defender told Paddy Power(via the Express). “We’ve heard parts of the story from two or three different sources, but we don’t have the full picture from both sides.
“Could both Aubameyang and Arsenal have dealt with it better? Yes, probably.
“It feels as if Aubameyang was the captain and then something went awry. Him losing the captaincy wasn’t based on a one-off issue – there were several.
“Mikel Arteta decided that ‘enough is enough, you’re the captain of this club and I am trying to lead a young team, and it’s not acceptable’.
“The problem with his departure is that it has left Arsenal short.
“If they finish fourth, then people will accept him leaving. If they don’t, then Arteta and Aubameyang should have put their differences aside until the season ends.
“It’s been such a strong stance from Arteta and the club, that they felt the best move was for Aubameyang to leave. Perhaps the Amazon documentary will reveal more.”
I think it would be harsh if Arteta or the club was judged on missing out on the top four on this decision, given the fact that we were far from guaranteed to land fourth with Auba in the side.
Should we miss out narrowly, you could argue either way really, but the bigger question for me would be why we didn’t bring in a replacement personally.
Do you really believe Auba was giving us enough up front this season?
Patrick