Arteta withdraws the captaincy of Arsenal to Aubameyang

Following the loss to Everton last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang asked the London club for permission to visit his ailing mother in France, and bring her with him to England. It was not the first time that Aubameyang had the approval of the club to be absent and take care of her. He missed both matches against Southampton (FA Cup and Premier League) last January, as well as a match against Manchester United in the league during the same dates. The Gabonese received permission once again, according to The Athletic, but the forward did not return on Wednesday as they had agreed. He did it on Thursday, flying early in the morning so as not to miss training. For the club, the offense had already been committed.

For this reason, Mikel Arteta decided to leave him out of the weekend’s call-up against Southampton, an encounter that the Gunners won comfortably 3-0. His discipline was questioned, and also his captaincy. On Tuesday, through a statement on its website, Arsenal announced that the Gabonese footballer was no longer captain of the club: “After his disciplinary foul last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be captain of the club, and will not be selected for Wednesday’s game against West Ham. We hope that all our players, and especially our captain, work according to the rules that we all agree on ”.

Vlahovic, possible replacement

Duran Vlahovic is one of the most followed strikers in Europe today. Several are the teams that have noticed the Serbian, who has scored 15 goals in 17 Serie A games this season. He has 31 goals in the Italian league in 2021, and could equal Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 33 to become the third player in history to exceed 30 goals in twelve months in Italy. According to Mediaset, Arsenal are trying to convince him to move to London. For this they would be willing to pay 68 million pounds after seeing how a previous offer was rejected.