Mikel Arteta must ‘stop falling out with Arsenal stars’ after Aubameyang, Guendouzi, Ozil and Xhaka rows, urges Keown
ARSENAL legend Martin Keown has told Mikel Arteta to stop falling out with the club’s stars.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the latest star to leave the Emirates after being axed by the Gunners boss.
Arteta convinced the striker to sign a bumper new £350,000-a-week contract back in 2020 but he joined Barcelona on a free transfer this week after the pair’s relationship broke down.
The Spaniard froze Aubameyang out and took the captaincy off him following a breach of discipline.
The Gabon ace revealed in his Nou Camp unveiling that his fall-out with Arteta was the reason for his exit.
That came just two years after the Arsenal chief cast aside Mesut Ozil, leaving him out of the Premier league and European squads for the 2020/21 campaign, before he left for nothing 12 months ago.
And Matteo Guendouzi was also shipped out on loan to Marseille after being ostracised.
Now Keown has urged Arteta to not be so confrontational during an appearance on talkSPORT.
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The former defender said: “Is this decision in the best interest of Arsenal football club? That’s all I’m looking at.
“There is no replacement that’s come in for the striker. Arsenal are in a fight for fourth place and have an opportunity to do that.
“This player, slightly differently to the Ozil situation, the current manager give him the contract. He assessed the player, felt he was good enough to go so no problems.
“Tuchel has come and said “yes, Aubameyang was always late for training. We handled him differently” so the manager knew what the situation was. And, of course, what I don’t want also is the manager to get a reputation for falling out with players.”
Keown added: “I don’t know of another high profile manager who has fallen out with quite so many players.
“Maybe it was easy to fall out with Ozil. Guendouzi has since gone on and done well, got into the national team. That’s one or two fallouts.
“He may feel he’s eradicating a culture that was allowed to grow under Arsene Wenger. I understand that but at the same time all football players are very different so what you need to do is find a way to get the best out of everybody.
“You can’t keep falling out with people. You could argue, and I’ve seen Arsenal fans say, if you step out of line then you’re out but maybe not if you’re Xhaka. He’s stepped out of line a few times and come straight back into the team.
“So this sort of policy of management, is it about building a culture or are there certain things he’s seeing in players where he thinks ‘I don’t want it. You’re out of the building’.”
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