Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta insists he was “the solution, not the problem”, when it came to the breakdown of his relationship with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The pair had a public falling-out in December after Aubameyang’s “latest disciplinary breach”, which involved him returning late from a trip to visit his mother abroad, and it resulted in Arteta striping the forward of the Arsenal captaincy.
Aubameyang did not play for the Gunners again and eventually joined Barcelona on transfer deadline day last month after Arsenal agreed to mutually terminate his contract.
Speaking at his unveiling in Barcelona, Aubameyang said his issues at Arsenal were only with Arteta and that is why he left the club.
Arteta, however, this morning insisted that was not the case and he was actually the solution when it came to the pair’s relationship.
“I am extremely grateful for what Auba has done at the club, for his contribution since I have been here and the way I see myself in that relationship is the solution, not the problem,” said Arteta.
“I do lot of things wrong, for sure. But the intention all the time is the best – and not for me, it is for the club and for the team.
“I think it ended up in the best possible way for everybody. I think when things change, and the context changes, this is part of football.”
The departure of Aubameyang leaves Arsenal, who are back in action tomorrow against Wolves, short on attacking options.
Alexandre Lacazette, who Arteta confirmed this morning will continue to captain the team now Aubameyang has left, and Eddie Nketiah are the only out-and-out strikers in the squad as Arsenal push to qualify for the Champions League.
“Auba’s trajectory at the club and the importance of his goals is unquestionable,” Arteta said.
“But we have other players, and we believe we have other qualities in different ways to try to accomplish the amount of goals that we need in the team. That’s what we are going to try to do.”
Arsenal did try to bolster their squad during the January transfer window, looking at strikers such as Alexander Isak, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Dusan Vlahovic.
They were, however, unable to bring anyone in and Arteta has insisted that is because the club couldn’t sign players of the required quality to play for Arsenal.
“Edu and his team did a fantastic job and they continue to do that, but we are very clear, we only want the best people and the best players at this club,” said Arteta.
“When we are in a rush, or [there are] different pressures, and the reasons are not the right ones to get a player on board, we decided not to do it.”
