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Key trio among unhappy group keen to leave Arsenal as Arteta prepares to take over

By on December 19, 2019

pierre-emerick aubameyang arsenal

According to the Independent, in-coming manager Mikel Arteta is walking into a storm at the Emirates with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang one of several players looking to leave Arsenal.

Arteta is widely reported to be on the verge of being named as Unai Emery’s permanent replacement with the Mirror suggesting he will be officially unveiled as our new manager on Friday after saying his goodbye’s to the Man City players on Thursday.

The 37-year-old won’t have much time to get the team prepared ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off with Everton so the newspaper says Ljungberg will remain in charge this weekend with Arteta watching from the stands.

The former midfielder has a huge task to turn Arsenal’s season around and it appears his challenge could be undermined by an unhappy squad with the Independent claiming that ‘half the squad’ are considering their futures at the club.

The newspaper says Aubameyang is the main protagonist with the striker actively looking to secure a move away from Arsenal as he supposedly wants to join a club that can challenge for major honours. The Gabon international has just 18 months left on his contract but the report says he doesn’t want to commit to a medium term project at this stage of his career so a move looks likely either in January or next summer.

Auba isn’t the only disgruntled player as the Independent claims that Alexandre Lacazette and Granit Xhaka are also eyeing moves away from the Emirates while several sources have told the paper that ‘half the squad’ aren’t happy at the club.

This isn’t specifically related to Arteta’s appointment as manager but rather they are concerned about the lack of direction at the club, and to be honest you can’t blame some players for questioning how we’ve been run in recent years.

However, we are The Arsenal and no player is bigger than the club so if somebody wants to leave, we should sell to the highest bidder. Aubameyang, Lacazette, Xhaka…it doesn’t matter, sell the lot of them and rebuild.

It’s clear the majority of this squad have downed tools this season and the Independent says the Arsenal hierarchy know a clear-out is needed following a disastrous few months and interim manager Freddie Ljungberg told his bosses too many of the players don’t care enough to turn things around.

So it looks like it’s going to be an interesting few months ahead at Arsenal but I have a feeling there will probably be minimal changes in January as the club will want to wait until the summer to undertake a major overhaul of the squad.