Pundit tips Arsenal star for captaincy with Auba told to step aside

Joe Williams
Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang speaks to team-mates

Former Premier League striker Darren Bent thinks Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale should be awarded the captaincy by Mikel Arteta.

The Gunners boss left Aubameyang out of his squad to face Southampton over the weekend after a “disciplinary breach” by the Arsenal captain.

However, Arteta would not shed further light on the specifics of what Aubameyang had done with a report in The Athletic claiming the dressing room is split over the situation.


Time for absent Aubameyang to handover Arsenal armband…


There has been discussion over whether Aubameyang should now hold onto the captaincy and Bent reckons summer signing Ramsdale should replace him.

When asked on talkSPORT who should take the armband off Aubameyang, Bent replied: “I’d probably say Ramsdale.

“If Tierney could guarantee that he’s going to play every single week, then yeah, but other than him it’s got to be Ramsdale as he’s the only player who’s going to play every single week.”

And fellow pundit and former Premier League striker Gabby Agbonlahor thinks Aubameyang should step aside as Arsenal captain.

“I think Arteta’s handling him right,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT. “Arteta played at a great level, he played not that long ago, so he’s not going to accept any player thinking they can do what they like and have their own rules.

“When I played at Aston Villa I gave up the captaincy. I was club captain and I went on holiday during an international break and got caught smoking shisha.

“As footballers we’re meant to be robots who aren’t allowed to do anything. I got a lot of heat for that so I gave up the armband. Maybe that’s something Aubameyang needs to do.

“I wasn’t professional enough for it. You can be a great captain on the pitch but if you’re not doing the right things off it then you can’t really be a captain off it. It was probably going to be taken off me anyway but I felt I wasn’t being professional enough off it.

“Because the club were so disappointed it felt like the right thing to do… in my later years I wasn’t professional on and off the field, I’ll hold my hands up for that.

“I don’t think he will give it up. He might think in his mind that he hasn’t done anything wrong.

“I’ve been there when you’ve sulked, when you’re not playing loads of times.

“Maybe Aubameyang will look at himself and go ‘you know what, I don’t deserve to be captain of Arsenal.’ Someone else like a Kieran Tierney, or maybe a younger lad like Bukayo Saka could.”