Mikel Arteta has hit back at Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s claim that he was his ‘only problem’ at Arsenal by saying he was the ‘solution’ to the player’s troubles.
The Gabon international joined Barcelona on deadline day after the Gunners agreed to terminate his contract.
Aubameyang was stripped of the captaincy in December after his latest disciplinary breach and he didn’t play for Arsenal again before his move to the Camp Nou.
On his arrival at Barcelona, Aubameyang claimed Arteta was the only reason that he left the London club.
Asked what the ‘problem’ was at Arsenal, Aubameyang said: ‘I think it was only with him and then he took this decision.
‘He wasn’t happy and that’s it. I was calm.’ ’Well Auba’s trajectory at the club and importance of his goals is unquestionable,’ said Arteta.
‘But we have other players and we believe we have other qualities to try to accomplish the goals we need in the team and that’s what we’ll try to do.
‘I am extremely grateful for what Auba did at the club, for his contributions since I was here and the way I see myself in that relationship is the solution not the problem.’
Arsenal let players like Aubameyang, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Calum Chambers and Pablo Mari leave the club last month.
However, they failed to make a single signing even though they were desperate to sign a striker. Arteta concedes the club wanted to make signings but it was just as important to offload some players.
‘We did what we believed what was the right thing to do,’ said Arteta.
‘First of all with the players who had to leave, the squad competition and contract situations were catching up in many of those situations, we had to make decisions and be fair as well with players who haven’t had a lot of minutes this season, and that’s what we did.
‘We had a very clear plan of what we could do and then it has to be doable. Edu and his team did a fantastic job, they continue to do that.But we are very clear, we only want the best people and best players at this club.
‘When we are in a rush or different pressure and the reasons are not the right ones to get a player on board, we decided not to do it.I trust the players, the quality we have, the spirit, the togetherness we have around the team.
‘We can achieve what we want.We’re going to need a high level of performances, we are going to need our supporters on board, that is going to be so key, but we can only go game by game.
