Speaking on the Seaman Says Podcast, Lee Dixon has been discussing Arsenal and the recent situation with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
As we all know, the striker was frozen out of the Arsenal team in late 2021, and eventually, he was allowed to leave the club to join Barcelona.
Interestingly, despite Aubameyang being one of the Gunners’ best players in recent years, there was a lot of support for Arteta’s decision at the time, and Dixon believes that the manager phased Aubameyang out in a very clever way by doing it in stages.
What’s been said?
Dixon spoke about Aubameyang and Arteta.
“Arteta has been great the way he’s dealt with the stuff off the pitch. The Aubameyang situation could have been morale breaking, but it wasn’t because he went about it in a very clever way. I think he would have wanted to ease him out earlier, but because the fans liked him and he had his scoring record, he did it in stages, and they did it at a point where it was a good move for everybody,” Dixon said.
Perfect timing
It has to be said, if Arteta had been waiting for a chance to get rid of Aubameyang, he got his timing spot on.
The Gunners were in good form, their young stars were shining and Arteta’s project looked clearer than ever.
Just imagine if Arteta had let Aubameyang go in the summer ahead of Arsenal’s opening trifecta of losses, there would have been hell to pay, but by the time January rolled around, things had settled and the club was on the right track.
Even though the Gabonese forward has been starring for Barcelona, it still looks like letting him go was the right move on Arsenal’s part.
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