Aubameyang, Guendouzi & Ozil at Arsenal: Was Arteta wrong?

Arteta’s Solutions Can’t Always Be So Severe

In the cases of Ozil, Guendouzi and Aubameyang, decisions were made that he felt were the right ones made for the greater good. What he did was for the benefit of the individuals on and off the pitch, therefore positive rulings made for Arsenal as a collective.

We’ll also never know what may have been if Arteta had reconciled and found places in the team for all three. That’s an interesting parallel universe to consider.

But while in the case of all three of they were players he inherited meaning it is less likely his own additions will find themselves in similar scenarios, the situation with Aubameyang, for example, is one he played a significant role in.

Arteta championed for the striker to sign a new contract, convincing the owners and hierarchy to draw up the most lucrative contract in the history of the club, one that would take Aubameyang into his mid-30’s.

Less than 14 months later he is stripping the same player of the captaincy, banishing him from the team and trying to flog him off to anywhere that would take him in mid-season. A move that leaves him with two strikers who are out of contract in the summer to try and fire his side into the top four, having spent £150m in the previous window.

At some point someone, whoever that may be, Josh Kroenke or otherwise, is going to sit down with Arteta and ask him why the next time a similar request is put in they should have any reason to trust him. They will point to Ozil having to be paid off, a clearly talented Guendouzi leaving for a pittance of a fee to Marseille, and the £350k-per-week superstar captain joining Barcelona in January in a deal that can only be described as a get out of jail free card to Arsenal. They well and truly got away with that. All his wages paid for. Thank you very much, Barcelona.

Arteta being a firm manager does not always mean Arteta being a strong manager. A huge part of the job is improving the players at your disposal, just as it is eking every ounce of ability and use you can out of the others. Whether Arteta was right or wrong in one or all of the aforementioned cases, the next step is ensuring history doesn’t repeat itself.

Fans don’t enjoy it, and the ones funding it, his peers, will grow restless. For all we know this could have been the last straw. Next time a £350k-per-week player isn’t to his liking they will turn around to him and say ‘tough sh*t, you asked for him, you play him’.

Ensuring such an outcome doesn’t arise again means preventing it from ever beginning.