Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is scoring goals for fun at Barcelona — but getting rid of him is still one of Mikel Arteta’s best decisions.
That is the verdict of a man who hasn’t always been Arteta’s biggest supporter: former Liverpool, Aston Villa and England striker Stan Collymore.
Aubameyang has bagged five goals in his last three outings for Xavi’s side, including a hat-trick at Valencia in La Liga.
That has given rise to some Arsenal fans to heap criticism on Arteta given the club’s lack of resources on the goalscoring front since Auba’s departure in January.
But Collymore is adamant that time will prove the Gunners boss right.
He said: “I don’t care that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is scoring goals for Barcelona; Mikel Arteta was right to get rid of him.
“That’s because the same things that saw him ostracised at Arsenal will soon start to happen at Barca as well.
“Aubameyang has scored goals everywhere he has been.
“He has scored hat-tricks in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1, he’s a quality striker.
“But he also comes with his gold Lamborghinis and his Swarovski-encrusted football boots.
“And it goes back to the argument about whether you buy Kevin De Bruynes and Bernardo Silvas, players who you just don’t know what they do when they leave the football stadium or training ground, or whether you buy players who come out and celebrate their gaudy success and have issues and problems with it.
“Paul Pogba and Aubameyang often get tagged as gaudy and hip-hop and loud.
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“And while I love Jack Grealish, he is another who every few months will pop up in a restaurant or bar and people will use it as a stick to beat him with.
“So despite the fact I have been critical about Arteta in a lot of things, this is one he got right, because if you have people not turning up to training and being a disruptive influence, particularly among younger players, then you have to get rid.
“Let’s be honest, Real Madrid have gone from the galacticos to skinticos , and Barca have gone from: ‘Let’s breed our own and complement them with the odd top-quality, marquee player to hawking around Europe for, yes, quality players, but players who wouldn’t have got a sniff in the Barcelona of Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola’.
“So Aubameyang will score his goals for a little while, then he will cause his issues and they will biff him off.
“It is one of the best decisions Mikel Arteta has made.”
