Mikel Arteta grabbed ex-Arsenal star and shouted ‘you betrayed me’ ahead of acrimonious exit

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang says he “felt hurt” by the way in which he left Arsenal and claims the tipping point was when Mikel Arteta ‘grabbed me and shouted: “You’ve betrayed me.”‘

Aubemeyang left Arsenal in January 2022 having scored 92 goals in 163 games for the club; 38 of them under Arteta.

But his relationship with the Gunners boss deteriorated sharply at the end of their time together at the Emirates.

The striker’s punctuality became a source of significant tension between the pair, and eventually led Aubameyang to leave the club for Barcelona on a free transfer.

Aubameyang told the Colinterview podcast that Arteta was initially “respectful”.

“I arrived late to a training session because I had an accident on the way to Colney (the club’s sports city),” he narrated. “Arteta did not choose me to play against Tottenham. Then he came to my house after the game and we had a frank conversation. It was respectful of him.”

The striker insists he takes his share of “responsibility” for the breakdown in the relationship but then revealed Arteta’s reaction to Aubameyang delaying his return after his mother suffered a stroker was the point of no return.

He said: “I never wanted to hurt Arteta or the club with my behaviour. I share the responsibility for what I’ve done. I felt hurt and it’s a shame I couldn’t continue being part of this project.

“My mother suffered a stroke and I delayed my return because I took her to her medical appointments,” he revealed. “When I arrived, Arteta finished his meeting. He grabbed me and shouted: ‘You’ve betrayed me. You can’t do this with everything we’re going through.'”

Aubameyang returned to the Premier League briefly, but flopped at Chelsea before 30 goals in 51 games for Marseille last term.

He is now with Al Qadsiah in the Saudi Pro League and has scored four goals in nine games, and will next be in action against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr after the international break.

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Aubameyang previously explained what he experienced while he “stayed for a month while waiting for the move away” from Arsenal.

“I go home and the doctor calls me and says ‘Tomorrow, the coach doesn’t want you to be there’. I said okay, I knew the next match was coming and I said to myself: ‘Damn, once again everyone is going to talk about me, it’s going to be a mess, this is crazy’. I couldn’t understand it,” Aubemeyang added.

“The days pass and the doctor tells me: ‘Look, he doesn’t want you to be with the group anymore, but you will be able to come and train but separately’. I say to myself okay… And then afterwards, he calls me and we have a meeting so he can explain to me that firstly, he’s taking away the captain’s armband, and secondly, I’m no longer training with the group.

“Once again, he explains why he is against me during this period when it was complicated for the club. That I have to be an example and that I couldn’t do that. At that moment, I said: ‘I admit that I have my share of responsibility but the real cause I think you can understand if you are a little bit human. You can understand my move’.

“After that, it was over, I stayed for a month training on my own while waiting for the move away.”