Michael Owen has revealed certain Arsenal decisions have made him cringe lately, but still found time to praise the club after their Premier League win against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Gunners held on for victory with 10 men at Molineux, having seen Gabriel Martinelli sent off for two yellow cards in quick succession.
The three points kept Mikel Arteta's side well in the hunt for a top-four place, after rivals Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur dropped points earlier in the week.
However, after a month in which the London club let another big player leave for nothing, the former Liverpool and England striker pointed out Arsenal's tendency for falling out with their biggest names, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang just the latest example.
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While Owen insisted "It’s the most positive I’d be if I was an Arsenal fan at the moment for a long time," pointing to the marked change from the defeat at Brentford on the opening weekend of the season, the Aubameyang situation continues to play on his mind.
Arsenal's former club captain left for nothing at the end of the most recent transfer window, having fallen out with Arteta, and the former Borussia Dortmund man wasn't the first Arsenal star to leave under a cloud.
Mesut Ozil also moved on for free when he left the club, having been out of favour for a number of months, and Owen asked questions about the big decisions made by the manager.
"I think he’s [Arteta] gained a lot of people’s respect already by the way he’s going about things. I cringe when I look at some of the big decisions that Arsenal have made in recent years and it always is the big players," Owen said.
"You look at what they gave Mesut Ozil and never played for ages and ages, then they go and give Aubameyang loads of money again and falls out and gets moved on.
"With their big players and big signings, the big renegotiations of contracts, they’ve really messed it up in recent seasons but I do like now Arteta feels like he’s got a grip on the club, a bit more respect about the place."
Upon joining new club Barcelona, Aubameyang took aim at Arteta as he opened up on his reasons for leaving north London.
"Yeah, I think it was just with him," the Gabon forward said when quizzed on whether he had a problem with the Gunners boss.
"I can't say much, he wasn't happy, I stayed calm and that's it."
However, Arteta disagreed, saying "The way I see myself in that relationship is the solution, not the problem."
He later said : "I don’t think I am too hard on that to be fair. I don’t know the perception externally. There are some minimums and a line you cannot cross."
