Arsenal Remove Aubameyang As Captain, Says Patrick Vieira

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Twitter @Auba)

JAKARTA - Arsenal took the big decision to remove Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from his position as captain. The Gabon striker is said to have committed a disciplinary violation.

Arsenal's decision to remove the armband from Aubameyang invited comments from various parties. One of them is Patrick Vieira, Crystal Palace coach who previously served as Arsenal captain.

Vieira said if a player is appointed captain, it means he is considered to be able to lead the other teammates both on and off the field. He also said that being captain means the player must be able to set a good example.

"I think as a coach you always want the captain of the team to be one of the leaders, I think," said Vieira as reported by The Sun, Wednesday, December 15.

"If you are chosen to be captain, it means you can be trusted to be a positive leader on and off the pitch. You want the captain to set an example," Vieira continued.

"Obviously, the captain always has to have a special relationship with the manager. But to have that, you have to be a positive leader."

The decision to remove Aubameyang from the captaincy was announced by Arsenal on Tuesday. For that decision, Arsenal did not explain in detail about the disciplinary action taken by Aubameyang.

However, it was recently reported that the reason the player was removed from the captaincy was due to his late return to the club after traveling from abroad.

Not only did he lose his captaincy, Aubameyang's indiscipline also kept him out of the squad when Arsenal crushed Southampton on Saturday.

Most recently, Aubameyang is also confirmed not to be included in the list of players brought by Arsenal to face West Ham United on Thursday morning.

Despite the consequences for Aubameyang, Mikel Arteta as Arsenal coach admits that removing Aubameyang as captain is a difficult choice. However, this decision must be made in the common interest.

"I can say now that we have made this decision," Arteta told the club's official website.

"Unfortunately it was a very difficult decision and obviously if I had to choose, I don't want to sit here talking about it but we have to do it," Arteta explained.