Rafa Benitez has provided an inside story on the feud between Mikel Arteta and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that led to the latter leaving Arsenal.
Aubameyang departed the Gunners at the end of this year's January transfer window having fallen out with Arteta. The striker was stripped of the captaincy and sent into the cold by the Arsenal boss after returning back late from a personal trip to France.
Arteta faced some criticism for his decisions that led to Aubameyang leaving the Premier League side for Barcelona. But Benitez, who was manager of Liverpool, Real Madrid and Newcastle, has now thrown his support behind his countryman.
"I will tell you something because I know a little bit from the inside. He was trying to support the player as much as he could and after he couldn’t and that’s it. And he has to make a decision," Benitez told Premier League Productions.
"It’s good to give time to the right coach, in England it’s very easy to talk about, ‘they have to spend money, it’s the only way’. And it’s not the way. With the economical crisis around the world, you have to improve your players, you have to coach your players properly.
"You have to keep an eye on the academy and bring players from the academy, and if you can buy players buy top-class players, but not top-class players in ability, [but also in] mentality. Then if the manager is right, if the ideas are right, you have to give him confidence, that is really important to do something.
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"He was under pressure a couple of times, and still they were spending a lot of money, don’t get me wrong, but they were supporting him and he was doing well. And at the end of the day, the value of the team, the players, the club, is much better now."
Under Arteta's management, and with a new leading striker in Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal have stormed to the top of the Premier League. Given their strong position, Benitez has backed the Gunners to win their first title for nearly 20 years.
"I think they’re doing well, analysing the game, not just watching the game, analysing the games, they are doing a lot of things right. They press high, they have the possession, they move the ball very quickly, they have light players, very dynamic up front, as soon as they give the ball away they press and regain the ball quickly," he added.
"They have good players in one-versus-one situations, they play wall passes, a lot of good things, the defenders are very high. When you are doing well, when you have good players you can take the risk. They can do that because they are so quick when they go to press.
"They have so much pace in attack, they are now mentally ready. It’s like when Manchester City and Liverpool were doing well, they go and press quickly and because you are on top of the other team you regain very high and then you create more chances.
"They have a young team, with the World Cup now and the break, they will recover and have fresh legs for the second part of the season. If they have confidence, if they win two or three games, they will be there, because they will have more belief and the energy to do it."
