According to John Barnes, Arsenal should replace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette in January, who believes the club’s relationship with the Gabonese may be strained.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang faces a mountain of issues at Arsenal after failing to convert yet another golden opportunity in front of goal. Despite coming off the bench, the Arsenal captain might have won his team a vital point against Everton had he been able to keep his close-range attempt on goal down.

Following a string of similar misses in the several previous games leading up to last Monday’s encounter, Mikel Arteta made the difficult decision to bench his captain in favour of Alexandre Lacazette. According to the Daily Mirror, the Frenchman, who would depart the club soon, had a dismal game as Arsenal’s captain. Former Liverpool great John Barnes believes the club should change the front combination as quickly as possible.

What did Barnes say?

The Daily Mirror reports that Barnes has requested that Arsenal move on from the pair and that he has especially harsh words for the former Golden Boot winner, as reported by the newspaper. As he put it, “Arsenal should aim to replace both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as soon as possible.

According to reports, Arsenal is interested in signing Alexandre Lacazette, who has been linked with a transfer away from the club for some time. Aubameyang is also under contract for a large sum of money, and it is unclear if he will get that money elsewhere. Things aren’t exactly going swimmingly for Aubameyang at the moment at Arsenal. In the match against Everton, he did not make the starting lineup, and even Eddie Nketiah came on ahead of him.”

Barnes speculated that Aubameyang could be having difficulty, pointing out that Nketiah was brought in to replace the club captain off the bench. “There is a problem with Aubameyang. With a young squad, you want your older players to be role models, and Aubameyang, as captain, isn’t demonstrating those attributes,” he continued.

As a club captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Arsenal tenure is about to end. However, Mikel Arteta chose to put in Eddie Nketiah instead against Everton, signalling the beginning of the end.

Barnes feels that Aubameyang does not have the required leadership quality

Barnes ended by implying that Aubameyang may lack the requisite leadership characteristics for the position. “The difficulty is that we don’t have access to talks that will take place between Monday to Friday. During that time, the manager will evaluate his team and the mood of the camp and search for players who possess such leadership traits.

“It is true that football fans only get to watch the club on Saturdays, but the manager understands what is best for the squad. It is a telling indicator in terms of the Aubameyang issue. Because it is never evident why our favourite players are not on the field. I put my absolute faith in the managers when they make important choices like leaving top players out of the lineup. Fans will be skeptical, but there is always more to a situation than meets the eye,” he stated.

Arsenal returns to Premier League action at the weekend when they take on Southampton. It remains to be seen if Arteta will give his captain another opportunity to start in the lineup. With or without Aubameyang, the Gunners must improve their record after losing three of their past four games in the Premier League.