Aubameyang's agent takes aim at Arsenal with social media post after captaincy axe

In the wake of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being stripped of the captaincy by Arsenal, his agent Kwaku Mensah took to social media to aim a thinly-veiled dig at the club.

In a curt statement, Arsenal quickly cleared the air on the immediate fate of their former captain. The statement read:

"Following his latest disciplinary breach last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be our club captain and will not be considered for selection for Wednesday's match against West Ham United. We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed. We are fully focused on tomorrow’s match."

Barely minutes after Arsenal released the aforementioned statement on their official website, Aubameyang's agent took to Instagram to respond to the development.

While not including any wording to go with the three posts on his Instagram story, Kwaku Mensah left little to the imagination as to what his take on the situation was.

Mensah released three photos on Instagram with one of the pics showing Aubameyang lifting the FA Cup trophy, while a second showed the Gabonese frontman posing with the Community Shield gong. In a third photo, Aubameyang was smiling for the cameras as he held the Premier League Golden Boot award.

Arsenal set to appoint new captain after stripping Aubameyang of captaincy

Lacazette, Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes

Following the abrupt turn of events after what is now Aubemayang's third breach of Arsenal's protocol guidelines, the writing was always on the wall for the striker.

In February of 2021, Aubameyang was pictured with a tattoo artist showing off a new tattoo during a period when all Arsenal playing staff were supposed to be in self-quarantine. Arsenal investigated the incident but kept their findings in-house.

Just a month later, Aubameyang showed up late for a team meeting and was punished by being left on the bench for the North London derby. Arsenal won the game 2-1 courtesy of goals from Martin Odegaard and Alexandre Lacazette to cancel out Erik Lamela’s opener.

It was reported that some team members called for the captain to be relieved of his duties. However, the Arsenal hierarchy deemed it unnecessary at the time and gave Aubameyang time to redeem his standing amongst his peers.

Arteta told Sky Sports:

"He was going to start the game. We had a disciplinary issue. We have drawn the line and we move on. He is on the bench. We have a process we have to respect for every game and that is it. We have a way of leaving together that we have to respect each other and that is it. But he is an incredible guy and he is one of the most important players in the team, he is our captain, and we move forward."

During that instance, Aubemayang, in conduct unbecoming of the club captain, left the Emirates in a huff just 23 minutes after the final whistle. He declined to join the post-match warm-down as the other unused substitutes were put through their paces.

Martin Odegaard, Kieran Tierney, Benjamin White and Alexandre Lacazette are all in line to succeed the former captain.

Gabriel Magalhaes and Aaron Ramsdale have also been talked up as future leaders while 22-year-old Sambi Lokonga was Anderlecht's captain before moving to North London.