Alan Shearer has stated that ‘enough is enough’ when it comes to Arsenal forward, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, as he told Premier League Productions (15/12/21 at 7:05 pm).
The Premier League legend compared the axed Arsenal star to an iconic figure in Eric Cantona and how you could allow player’s like that to get away with off-field issues because they would ‘win you games’.
But for far too long now, Aubameyang hasn’t been producing the goods for Arsenal and his performances have become troublesome for the team.
Whether it’s being hauled off when Arsenal needed a goal at Old Trafford or an academy player is being brought on ahead of him against Everton.
Either way, added with Mikel Areta’s call to strip him of the captain’s armband, it has been a number of weeks to forget for the Gabon star.
The Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer didn’t pull any punches when talking about Aubameyang’s situation in north London.
“Excuse your captain, once and maybe twice,” said Shearer. “If it has happened multiple times, then there has to come a time for the manager’s sake where he turns around and says ‘enough is enough’.
“Let’s use Eric Cantona as an example when he was at Manchester United. We all know that Fergie bent over backwards and protected him.
“Now, why did he do that? Because he knew he could win him games, he knew he was genius and he was the difference.
“Aubameyang is not doing that anymore. He might have been doing it during the past few seasons. He’s not in that category. But as a captain, you should be the one setting the example for your teammates.”
Not only was Aubameyang stripped of the captaincy, but he was also left out of the matchday squad – for the second game running – that beat West Ham on Wednesday night.
It does raise the question as to when Aubameyang will be back in the first-team fold and if his career at Arsenal is over?
When Arteta felt that Mesut Ozil’s time at the club was up, he left him out of, not just matchday squads, but his Premier League squad altogether.
Either way, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Aubameyang is out of the door next month because the signs aren’t great in regards to this relationship between player and manager being fixed.
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