Izuchukwu Okosi
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta on Friday afternoon confirmed that striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will again be unavailable for selection this weekend against Leeds United.
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Arsenal travel to Elland Road on Saturday evening but Aubameyang will be absent once more after having the captaincy taken off him.
Arteta took action after striker Aubameyang failed to report back in time for a Covid test after travelling to France with his manager’s permission to visit his unwell mother but came back to the club a day after his expected arrival.
Aubameyang missed Arsenal’s victory over Southampton last weekend and then the midweek win against West Ham after losing the armband and his exile is set to continue at Elland Road.
‘’He is not available for selection,’’ Arteta told the media in his Friday’s post match news conference.
Asked if the former African Footballer of the Year has a future at the club or what he has to do get back in favour, Arteta avoided both questions, repeating: ‘For this game he is not available for selection.’
Aubameyang was relieved of his position as captain on Tuesday, just one day before the Gunners’ 2-0 victory over West Ham to take the north Londoners into the top four.
Alexander Lacazette wore the armband in the Gabon forward’s absence, with the French striker one of the senior figures in Arsenal’s ‘leadership group’ which will take temporary charge of the captaincy while Arteta searches for his next club captain.
Granit Xhaka, who was stripped of the captaincy himself in late 2019 after publicly criticising the Arsenal faithful, is also part of that group with out-of-favour defender Rob Holding another senior leader.
The likes of Kieran Tierney, Martin Odegaard, Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale have all been tipped as potential Arsenal captains for Arteta – a former Gunners skipper himself – to choose.
Arsenal’s next game after Saturday’s trip to Leeds is a Carabao Cup quarter-final at home to Sunderland, before the Gunners face lowly Norwich City on Boxing Day.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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