From William Gallas being stripped of the captaincy to Granit Xhaka having a dig at his own fans, Arsenal, at one point, were something of a non-stop circus behind the scenes.
However, over the past few years, that all seems to have changed.
Indeed, Mikel Arteta has instilled a completely different mentality behind the scenes in north London, and now, Arsenal don’t stand for players who put themselves before the team.
Speaking on the Up Front Podcast, Graeme Souness has been discussing the standards in modern football and how players have to be role models.
Souness noted that every team needs a model pro for the youngsters to look up to, claiming that Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United was a great example.
Simon Jordan countered that point by using Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as an example at Arsenal, but, ultimately, Souness agreed that Aubameyang had the wrong attitude when he was at the Emirates.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Marseille looks on during the UEFA Europa League 2023/24 round of 16 first leg match between FC Shakhtar Donetsk and O...
Graeme Souness criticises Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s attitude at Arsenal
Souness and Jordan got into a discussion about what it means to be a role model in modern football.
Jordan argued that it’s not incredibly important to have a senior pro to look up to as Arsenal rebuilt with Aubameyang as captain.
Souness ultimately conceded, agreeing that the £57m man’s attitude wasn’t great and he was often late to training.
“For me, Ronaldo was the ultimate pro that kids would look up to,” Souness said.
“Let me just follow that logic, Arsenal’s senior pro at the time was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, now, Arsenal are functioning, but at the time they were being rebuilt, their senior pros looked like Aubameyang,” Simon Jordan replied.
“But he was a wrong’un, he wasn’t turning up to training on time,” Souness said.
What happened with Aubameyang at Arsenal?
Aubameyang would ultimately leave Arsenal under a dark cloud as he was released by the club in January 2022.
So, what happened for Aubameyang to get to that point after being one of Arsenal’s most important players.
Aubameyang’s form seriously dipped that season, so that accelerated his departure from the club, while, as Souness says, the striker did have some timekeeping issues too.
Within six months, the striker was back in the Premier League with Chelsea, but his poor form continued at Stamford Bridge.
Aubameyang did get back on track last season with Marseille where he scored 17 league goals, before making what looks like the final move of his career over to Saudi Arabia to Al-Qadsiah.
The Gabonese forward was a brilliant player for Arsenal, helping the Gunners to an FA Cup triumph during his time at the Emirates, but, sadly, things went sour for Aubameyang before he left the club and his legacy has been tarnished.
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