Arsenal legend, Alan Smith has told the club treat striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang the way they did to Mesut Ozil.
Aubameyang is facing challenging times at Arsenal after manager Mikel Arteta stripped him of the club’s captaincy following a disciplinary breach.
The Gabonese international has missed Arsenal’s wins against Southampton and West Ham United.
But Smith, who made 264 appearances for Arsenal and scored 86 goals, believes the only way Arteta will sell Aubameyang in the upcoming transfer window is if the Gunners give the player a ‘shed load of money’ just like they did to Ozil before he left Emirates for Fenerbahce.
“It looks a difficult road back for Aubameyang at Arsenal,” Smith was quoted by Sky Sports as saying.
“When you do what you do to the captain of the club, and from the outside looking in, quite rightly Arteta has done it.
“You wonder what Aubameyang’s state of mind will be now. It didn’t seem great in the first place in terms of his confidence out on the pitch.
“I still think he is got about 18 months left on his deal and I am sure at this point Arteta would like to sell him, but somebody on £350,000-a-week is going to be virtually impossible to move on unless they do what they did with Mesut Ozil and give him a shed load of money and he would have to accept less money elsewhere.
“It is a problem and a problem Arteta didn’t need, but now it is a big challenge for Arsenal to rebuild their attack and it is going to depend on some very clever and inspired recruitment.”
Aubameyang will also miss Arsenal’s clash with Leeds United on Saturday evening.
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