Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang era is over

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was a player that I admired before he came to Arsenal, and with the highlights that can be found in his play, it is not difficult to understand why that was.

His skill and finishing ability, when on form and focused, has been second to very few as he came up through the Ligue 1 side St. Etienne, as well as when he was purchased by Borussia Dortmund, where he would further blossom into the player that the club purchased at the dying days of the Arsene Wenger era.

Through two additional managers, Auba has served as a beacon of talent, of inspiration, of dynamism and of what the team could and should be; at some point during his time with the club, however, something changed, and it likely wasn’t regarding the player, but his very environment itself.

Aubameyang is both a brilliant player, as well as a very positive, kind person. He is no bad egg or trouble maker, he is not disrespectful, but absent-minded, and while that sort of absent-mindedness can be forgiven while a team is developing, it is more difficult to reconcile when the team is actually moving beyond what Auba has long witnessed at and with Arsenal.

The Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang era at Arsenal is over as Mikel Arteta’ side transition away from the former captain

With the team playing some of its best football in ages with the former captain of the squad nowhere to be found, it appears more and more obvious that this team has evolved passed Auba. The team that we are watching week in and out is so fast, so free with the ball, so organized in the attack, and so persistent to get the ball back when they do not have it, that it now appears as though the 32-year-old might have actually been, inadvertently of course, holding this team back.

While this realization is a positive one regarding the team, it is a sad one regarding the player and his time on north London.

Aubameyang will not remain with this team for much longer, especially considering how talented he is and can be when given the right circumstances and environments to thrive within, and that is OK. All parties involved, whether it be the player, his old club, as well as his new one, will benefit from this transfer when it eventually comes, either in January or the summer, and yet it is nonetheless sad to see it come to this.

Auba has put up impressive numbers during his time in north London, and he has been an impressive player for this team on and off the pitch. While he has made a few errors in both places – those are always forgivable should they be smaller enough – assuming they do not begin to feel too out of place with the team that he is on.

For Arsenal, the situation simply changed.

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