‘Disappointed and sad’ Wright defends ex-Arsenal striker Aubameyang

Ian Wright is “disappointed and sad” to see Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leave Arsenal and he does not think his exit is down to money.

The striker fell out of favour with Mikel Arteta in December.  He was stripped of the captain’s armband at Arsenal following his latest “disciplinary breach”.

The Gunners were keen to let him go in January and on deadline day he agreed a permanent move to Barcelona.

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This deal is yet to be officially announced but it was confirmed on Tuesday that Aubameyang had left Arsenal by ‘mutual consent’. 

Aubameyang scored 92 goals from his 162 appearances for Arsenal across all competitions.

Wright is sad that the player’s relationship with Arteta “could not be healed”:

“He’s taken a massive cut to go there and he’s willing to do that,” Wright said (via his latest Wrighty’s House podcast).

“With all the people saying he’s just signed a contract and just clocked off, he got offered the same money he’s on at Arsenal to go to Saudi Arabia.

“We’re talking about somebody who is a very colourful individual and plays football with a smile on his face. When it’s not right you can see it’s not right for him and it’s not about the money.

“Because he’s himself, he’s very colourful, people can easily get that mixed up. When he came to this country everybody talked about him as this party animal, but he’s not like that at all. He’s a family man. He’s a family man that likes colourful clothes and colourful cars, but scores goals.

“The saddest thing for me was that we don’t know what’s happened. I’m not really bothered to know what has happened now with him and Mikel. What couldn’t be healed in a time where we need goals.

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