Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has revealed how Mikel Arteta reduced him to tears prior to his Arsenal departure. The Gabon frontman ended a topsy-turvy three-and-a-half-year spell at the Emirates Stadium in February 2022 after his contract was terminated by mutual consent. Once the Gunners' golden child, Aubameyang's fate became clear after a litany of disciplinary breaches became too much for manager Arteta.
Aubameyang, 35, was dropped for a key north London derby showdown against rivals Tottenham in March 2021 after he showed up late for the team bus. The resulting conversation between him and Arteta clearly took its toll on the player, who also apologised to the team-mates he let down.
“When we got to the hotel, he called me to his room and said I wasn’t going to play," he told The Athletic. "He was strict. The rules are the rules. "I felt hurt. I had tears because I wanted to play that game, badly. I didn’t want to hurt anybody. The next day we had a meeting and I stood up in front of everyone to say sorry. He also came to my house to speak, because he didn’t want this to be chaos. I said, 'it’s going to be okay.' But from then it was not the same.".
Aubameyang – who scored 92 goals in 163 appearances for Arsenal – had already overcome several run-ins with Arteta during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The France-born forward was then attempting to care for his sick mother in late 2021 when he incurred his manager's wrath after returning late from one trip to his native Laval.
