Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has finally opened up on his acrimonious departure from Arsenal and revealed Mikel Arteta accused him of ‘putting a knife in his back’.
The decision to exile the former club captain, whose goalscoring exploits had almost singlehandedly won the FA Cup, to this day the only major trophy of Arteta’s reign, represents one of the most ruthless acts of the Arsenal manager’s reign.
Aubameyang had been rewarded with a new long-term contract to go with the captain’s armband only 18 months prior to his eventual departure which saw him join Barcelona after his deal had been terminated.
Having only bee introduced as a late substitute in a defeat at Everton, Aubameyang was subsequently left out of the squad altogether for Arsenal’s next game against Southampton.
Arteta refused to elaborate on the reason for the current Marseille striker’s absence but, ultimately, he had already played his final game for Arsenal having arrived back late and thus breaking Covid protocols after being given special dispensation to visit his sick mother.
‘It was during the COVID period and we were playing, I think, Everton,’ Aubameyang recalled during an in-depth interview with @Colininterview. ‘My season wasn’t great, we were struggling in the league and the day before the coach told us: ‘Look, it doesn’t matter if we win or not, you have a day off. But if you want to leave, you notify yourself before the match because you have to follow the health safety rules.’
‘My mother a few months before had a stroke, it was going to be Christmas time so I went to see the coach and I said to him: ‘Coach, I’m coming to see you because I’d like to leave, I’m going to go pick up my mother to bring her back for the holidays.’ He tells me no problem. He knew very well what had happened, the day it happened he had already given me permission to go see her. So he gives me authorisation and tells me to check with the doc about the return in relation to Covid.
‘I’m going home to Laval, normally I was supposed to leave on the free day and return in the evening rather than the morning of training. My mother had exams to do, I couldn’t leave in the evening so I left the next morning on training day. Once I got there, I had to take my test but in fact I should have done it the day before since I was coming from another country.
‘I arrive, the coach finishes his meeting and then he grabs me and he completely tears into me, he shouts at me like I’m crazy, he says: ‘You put a knife in my back. You can’t do that to me given the times we’re going through.’ At that moment I tell myself that I’m not going to answer him because it’s going to end angrily. I didn’t go partying. He knows very well the reason for my departure so at that moment I don’t understand why he is lecturing me like this.
‘I go home and the doctor calls me and says ‘Tomorrow, the coach doesn’t want you to be there.’ I said ok, I knew the next match was coming and I said to myself: ‘Damn once again everyone is going to talk about it, it’s going to be a mess, what is this crazy thing?’ I couldn’t understand it.
‘The days pass and the doctor tells me: ‘Look, he doesn’t want you to be with the group anymore, but you will be able to come and train but separately.’ I say to myself ok… And then afterwards, he calls me and we have a meeting so he can explain to me that one, he’s taking away the captain’s armband, and two, I’m not training any more with the group.
‘Once again, he explains why he is against me during this period when it was complicated for the club. That I have to be an example and that I couldn’t do that. At that moment, I said: ‘I admit that I have my share of responsibility but the real cause I think you can understand if you are a little bit human. You can understand my move.’
‘After that, it was over, I stayed for a month training on my own while waiting for the break.’
Aubameyang enjoyed a reputation enchancing six-month spell at Barcelona before enduring another difficult spell at Chelsea where he hardly figured under Graham Potter.
His dismal season at Stamford Bridge, however, was nothing compared to the depression he suffered in the immediate aftermath of his Arsenal demise.
He added: ‘I’m sure I was depressed. There are attitudes that are seriously different from your daily life. For example, I started drinking a lot.
‘It was a difficult passage. It started a little before I was fired from Arsenal. So yes, it was depression, I think that personally it was related to the state of health of my parents.
;It affects a man, it was difficult. How to get out? Often we say that we have to talk about it, there’s no shame in that.’
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