When Arsenal‘s decision-makers met to determine Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang‘s fate in January, they made a judgement call far bigger than whether or not to release their star striker. In head coach Mikel Arteta’s opinion, Aubameyang’s attitude around the Premier League club’s London Colney training base had become a significant problem.
Aubameyang (who retired from Gabon duties last week) has always had a reputation for bending the rules — turning up a few minutes late for a team meeting here, missing a squad-wide prematch COVID-19 test there — but the combination of his consistent goal return and infectious personality always kept him on the right side of every coaching staff he has played under. That was until he was guilty of one indiscretion too many. Sources insist there was no big bust-up or one particularly egregious breach of the rules, but the catalyst for…
