Paul Merson says Mikel Arteta made the right call in selling Arsenal star

Former Arsenal star Paul Merson believes that Mikel Arteta made the right call in selling Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January.

The Gabonese striker was stripped of Arsenal’s captaincy and off-loaded to Barcelona after a series of disciplinary breaches, but supporters and pundits have remained divided over whether it was the correct decision.

Initially, the Gunners fared better in Aubameyang’s absence, winning five of their first six games following his sale, but defeats to Crystal Palace and Brighton in their last two matches have dramatically changed the picture.

Failure to bring in a replacement has left the club short of options up front, with Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah the only recognised strikers in the squad, while Aubameyang has scored 10 goals in 14 appearances for Barcelona so far.

Arsenal are currently fifth in the league, three points behind arch-rivals Tottenham Hostpur with a game in hand and many have said that if the club fails to qualify for the Champions League again, Arteta’s decision to get rid of Aubameyang will have proven decisive.

But Merson disagrees, writing his column for Sky Sports: ‘We’re all clever after the event so there’s absolutely no point looking back. La Liga isn’t a great league. Football is open and it’s free flowing in Spain and he was a bad influence at the time at Arsenal.

‘Arteta had to make a call whereby if he kept him there and he was having a negative impact on the other players, no one mentioned whether Aubameyang should still be there three or four weeks ago. All of a sudden, we’re hearing that Aubameyang shouldn’t have been sold.

‘You’ve got to look at the future of the club and towards the younger players. They all respected Aubameyang and he was a bad