Aubameyang Syndrome

“He left me no choice.” Those are the ominous words that suggest Mikel Arteta benching Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur could be just the start of the manager’s problems with Arsenal’s skipper and star striker.

Arteta didn’t utter those words. They came from Peter Stoger, Borussia Dortmund’s manager when Auba made his switch from the Bundesliga to Arsenal during the winter window of 2018. Stoger spilled the beans on what had prompted Dortmund to sell a prolific goal machine:

He trained well four days of the week. But to underline his wish for a transfer, he skipped team meetings before games or refused to run during the final training.

We did our best to keep him for at least another half a year, but Auba wasn’t ready for that. He left me no other choice.

The last sentence echoes loudest after Arteta sat Aubameyang down for similar issues. Apparently, Arsenal’s leading goalscorer was late to the party. Arteta made a tough call, stuck with it and sounded anxious to move on after his Auba-less team beat Spurs 2-1 thanks to a penalty from replacement Alexandre Lacazette.

Arteta on Aubameyang: "He was going to start the game, we had a disciplinary issue, we've drawn the line, we move on. We keep it internal."

When asked if it was a blow:

"We have other players who are willing."

— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) March 14, 2021

Arteta may want to move on, but this situation isn’t going away any time soon. Not when disciplinary slips are becoming worryingly common from Aubameyang.

He recently broke lockdown protocols to get a tattoo. True story. Arteta promised action, but Auba continued to start matches. Another infraction so soon was likely too much for the gaffer to bear. Arteta was left with no choice.

Being out of options trying to get a rebellious player in tow has become a pattern for managers during Aubameyang’s career. Back in 2018, German football boffin Kit Holden outlined recurring problems to The Daily Mail:

He has openly pushed for a move away from Dortmund, telling fans and journalists about his desire to move to Real Madrid, AC Milan or Paris Saint-Germain.

Further indiscretions include an unauthorised overseas trip on the eve of a league fixture, inviting a Red-Bull sponsored football freestyler to Dortmund’s training ground for a film shoot without permission, and repeatedly arriving late to training.

Aubameyang’s consistent disregard for club rules has exasperated his bosses, and bred resentment among his team-mates, who feel he is given special treatment.

Possibly the area of his life which has landed him in the most hot water, however, is his love of hitting the town.

He was suspended for Dortmund’s Champions League tie against Sporting Lisbon last season after he attended a pool party in northern Italy just 48 hours before the clash.

There were also reports he was omitted from Dortmund’s squad to face Stuttgart last November after he made a trip to Barcelona to see former team-mate Ousmane Dembele. The club cited ‘disciplinary reasons.’

That’s a long, long list of infractions.

Arsene Wenger was quizzed about Aubameyang’s problems at Dortmund after the deal with Arsenal had gone through. Le Prof’s answer was typically philosophical, but in retrospect has worrying undertones for present-day Arsenal:

I don’t [think] that is a problem. He spent four years in Germany, he had some problems since last year. And it was linked to the fact maybe that a transfer didn’t work in the summer, and that he had not the same commitment anymore that he had before.

You don’t need to follow a lengthy trail of breadcrumbs to wonder if Auba’s latest acting out is the start of a concerted effort to force another transfer. The timing would suck since Arsenal only signed the 31-year-old to a three-year contract back in September.

It was an expensive deal, totalling £55 million and designed to milk the last of the striker’s best years. That won’t happen if Aubameyang has already made up his mind to find a new home. It’s not a stretch to believe he has eyes for another club.

Arsenal remain mired in mid-table mediocrity even after beating Tottenham. Aubameyang didn’t leave Dortmund and regular participation in the UEFA Champions League for 10th place. He was signed to fire Arsenal back into a seat at Europe’s top table, but he’s been strictly a Thursday-night special during his time in England. Arsenal have finished 6th, 5th and 8th since Auba arrived.

There’s enough motivation for the player to seek a new team higher up the European food chain. Arteta’s going to have a hard time moving on if Aubameyang won’t oblige.

Losing him would leave this Arsenal squad sorely lacking up top. Arteta has gone lukewarm (at best) on young bucks Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli. Lacazette’s still game, but he’s also out of contract this summer and there’s already been indications this season will be his last in Arsenal colours.

Laca’s never been as bad as his critics would have you believe. In many ways, he might be a better focal point than Aubameyang, at least for this team.

Lacazette can play as a classic 9 with his back to goal and able to link with attacking midfielders. It worked beautifully against Spurs when Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard ran riot.

⚽️ Alexandre Lacazette is the 5th player to score 10+ PL goals for Arsenal in 4+ successive seasons, after…
Ian Wright
Dennis Bergkamp
Thierry Henry
Olivier Giroud pic.twitter.com/f5tSQqnRrI

— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) March 14, 2021

Aubameyang loves to hug the flanks, particularly the left, where Smith Rowe did most of his damage Sunday. Arsenal might have been easier to defend with Auba in his familiar channel and overcrowding in the middle of the final third.

No matter his position, Aubameyang is still a dynamic goalscorer who can carry Arsenal to success the way he did during last season’s FA Cup. Any more disciplinary concerns would present Arteta with a tricky dilemma.

Questions were asked about the decision to even allow Auba a seat on the bench against Tottenham. If his infraction was bad enough for him not to start, why not leave him out entirely? It was a reasonable question, but Arteta would have been taking an almighty risk going into a game against the local enemy without the main man at least available in reserve.

Imagine the vitriol if Arsenal had lost and failed to score without Aubameyang. Arteta would’ve been portrayed as an erratic dictator more concerned with flexing his authority than putting the interests of the team first.

The better move was to hedge his bets, the way most managers prefer. Sports are full of examples of discipline cases whose punishment lasted only until the team needed their talents again.

What’s tricky is striking the right balance between punishing a player who flouts the rules but still leaving the door ajar for the return of a match-winner who’s crucial to success. Get it wrong and you end up flip-flopping and weakening your authority, the way Unai Emery did with Mesut Ozil.

Arteta might have kept his Aubameyang decision private, but it’s impossible to send a message about discipline without telling anybody. The next step is to get the player motivated again and prove there are no grudges. There’s no other alternative considering how much Arteta will need Aubameyang’s goals to keep the Europa League or bust end-of-season plan alive.

If this is just the opening salvo between a disgruntled superstar and a defiant club, Arsenal have a little more leverage than might appear from the outside. Winning the derby showed how another way of playing, one built around a different kind of striker, can be just as fruitful for Arteta.

That knowledge could offer both parties a way out this summer if push comes to shove. Ideally, striker and manager find a happy medium to keep Aubameyang content and productive for the length of his contract.