Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has finally broken his silence following his dramatic transfer to Barcelona, and opened up to Arsenal fans about the "hurt" he feels at leaving the club.
In a whirlwind transfer Deadline Day, Aubameyang flew out to Barcelona, to the surprise of Arsenal, in what seemed like a strong effort to force through a move to the Catalan side.
Aubameyang has been out of the Arsenal squad since the start of December following strict disciplinary action taken by Mikel Arteta, and the fractured relationship between the pair could not be fixed.
And despite angering some fans with a rather lacklustre response to Arsenal wishing him well in Spain, Aubameyang has now reached out to the fans and opened up about his exit.
Although a deal was agreed in the final hour of Deadline Day to wrap up the January transfer window, it was only on Tuesday night that Arsenal released an official statement that confirmed Aubameyang had left the club via mutual consent with the Gunners.
Arsenal thanked Aubameyang in their message, but the striker responded with just one emoji on Twitter which caused outrage amongst some supporters, although a detailed message has now been published.
Aubameyang took to Instagram to thank the Arsenal fans, and explained that he was "hurt" about the way his time had ended, as he said: "To the Arsenal fans, thank you for making London home for myself and my family for the past four years.
"We went through ups and downs together and your support meant everything to me. Having the chance to win trophies and the honour of being the captain of this club is something I will forever keep in my heart.
"I have always been 100% focused on doing everything I can for this club which is why leaving without a real goodbye hurts - but that is football.
"I'm sad I did not get the chance to help my team-mates in the last few weeks, but I have nothing but respect for this club and truly wish all my guys and the fans all the best and many successful years in the future!
"Love, Auba."
The transfer brings Aubameyang's stay at Arsenal to an unfortunate end, and his high-profile move from Borussia Dortmund in 2018 has ended in a rather ugly spat with Arteta.
Although Aubameyang is on to new beginnings, Arteta is left short of options as Arsenal failed to bring in a replacement for the Gabon international, and will end the season with Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah as the only first-team striking options.
To make matters worse, their contracts both expire at the end of the season, meaning that Arsenal's problems behind the scenes are far from over.
