Updated January 7th, 2020 at 19:58 IST

Aubameyang may be on his way out of Arsenal after Arteta's comment: Paul Merson

Former Arsenal player Paul Merson is of the opinion that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may be on his way out of Arsenal following Mikel Arteta's comments.

Reported by: Ruchit Rastogi
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Former Arsenal player Paul Merson is of the opinion that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may be on his way out of Arsenal following newly appointed manager Mikel Arteta's comments. However, Aubameyang in recent times has declared that he plans on staying with Arsenal where he has a total of 18 months left on his current contract. The forward said that he was a hundred per cent committed to Arsenal, adding that he loves the club with an aim to bring it back to the top.

Arteta wishes for Aubameyang to stay

According to reports, Arteta said that he wishes that the 30-year-old striker stays with the Gunners, adding that he did not even think that Aubameyang was going to leave the club. However, Merson said that the striker may be on his way out because, in Arsenal's match against Manchester United, he was most of the times playing at the position of a left-back. Merson further added that Aubameyang is a natural goalscorer who was not playing at his natural position.

The football pundit said that when a player does not play at his favoured position for a few games, the next call is to their agent, telling them that they will not play at that club anymore. Merson is of the opinion that the Gunners will be willing to sell the forward if they received a substantial offer for him. He also said that if Arsenal received a bid ranging between 70-80 million then they will probably sell Aubameyang. The Gabon international has been linked to Barcelona, Inter Milan and Manchester United.

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Xhaka to be reinstated as club captain?

According to reports, Arteta said that the captain's band could be given back to Granit Xhaka after the midfielder was stripped of the captaincy following an incident of an angry reaction towards Arsenal's fans. Since then Aubameyang was handed the captain's armband. Responding to a question, Arteta said that only time will tell if Xhaka will be given back the club captaincy. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been Arsenal's top goalscorer this season with a total of 15 goals in 25 matches out of which he has scored 13 goals in 21 league appearances. He signed for Arsenal for a fee of 56 million pounds in January 2018, bagging 56 goals and 13 assists in a total of 90 appearances for the Gunners.

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(With inputs from agencies)

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Published January 7th, 2020 at 19:58 IST