Emmanuel Petit, Arsenal legend argued that the Garbonese striker is not the same player The Gunners signed a few years ago
By Kehinde Okeowo
Former Arsenal star, Emmanuel Petit, has supported Mikel Arteta’s decision to leave Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of his first-team plans and eventually allow him to leave the Emirate.
The Gabon striker was frozen out of the team and stripped of his captain’s arm band while he was at Arsenal for breaking the club rule.
Considering his wages, goals and experience, it made little sense to leave him out but the Arsenal gaffer decided to leave him out of the team.
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But Arteta is no stranger to making that type of decision and could have sideline Aubameyang for the rest of the season.
The former Borussia Dortmund forward eventually terminated his contract to move to La Liga giant Barcelona for free.
There have been debates about whether Arteta’s decision was the right or wrong decision, but Petit thinks the former Arsenal midfielder was the right one.
While talking to Sun Sports, Emmanuel Petit said Mikel Arteta did exactly what everyone expected him to do by allowing Aubameyang to leave.
He also said the 32-year-old striker is not the same player Arsenal signed years ago, as he is now clearly distracted.
He said, “I don’t want to show disrespect for Aubameyang, because I believe he is a great player. But, for the last few months, he hasn’t been himself.
“Something has changed in his mind. I don’t know if it’s related to the club, the manager, or the way he is living in his private life.
“But we were not seeing the same Aubameyang that we saw a couple of years ago.”
