Chronicle Editor
LONDON — Arsenal are not sure if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be ready to play in their Premier League home clash with Manchester United on Saturday after the striker missed two games due to his mother’s illness, manager Mikel Arteta said on Thursday.
Aubameyang pulled out of Arsenal’s FA Cup fourth-round defeat at Southampton last weekend and was also absent from their 3-1 league win over the same opponents on Tuesday.
Arteta was asked about the Gabon forward’s availability after the 31-year-old thanked Arsenal for their support and had said he would return home ahead of the United game.
“I don’t know. I spoke with him yesterday. Things are looking better at the moment but we’re going to have to wait and see,” Arteta told a news conference.
“He’s our captain and one of the most important players. We are doing everything we can to have him as quickly as possible.
“But understanding that he’s been through difficult days that he had to support his family. We were here to support him as well with the time that he needed to get that sorted.”
Arsenal on Wednesday signed Real Madrid midfielder Odegaard on loan until the end of the season and Arteta also suggested the Norwegian may need more time to build his fitness.
“We believe he’s got some special qualities that we need that we have been missing. Now we have to give him a little bit of time,” Arteta said.
“He hasn’t played that many minutes in Madrid, but he’s been training hard. He looks so excited, as we are, to have another big talent in our club.
“He’s a specialist to play in the pockets. To be in the number eight or 10 positions. He can play off the sides . . . He has the capacity to create chances and score goals.”
Meanwhile, it will be very difficult for Paul Pogba to leave Manchester United if they win the Premier League, according to club legend Rio Ferdinand.
Pogba has been key to United’s revival this season after delivering a string of impressive displays in the last month, which included scoring match-winning goals against Burney and Fulham.
Ferdinand, who was still at United when Pogba made his senior debut in 2012, feels the midfielder is now showing that he would want to leave a legacy at Old Trafford rather than leave.
“I don’t know but whenever I’ve spoken to Paul Pogba, Paul Pogba is happiest when he’s playing on a regular basis,” the ex-United defender said on his YouTube channel FIVE.
“When he’s playing consistently, when he’s playing good football and when he’s winning. He’s a happy person.
“Manchester United right now must be a happy place for Paul Pogba to be. So, for him to go somewhere else, if they win the league I think it will be very difficult for him to walk out.
“I think a new contract will probably be on the table and for him to walk away from that, at the start of something he was very committed to when he walked through the door, he wanted to come here and win things and get Man Utd back on track to winning.
“I think he’s the type of person who’d want to continue that and create a legacy at this football club. At this moment in time, if Pogba leaves at the end of this season — even if they win the league he hasn’t created a legacy that he would’ve wanted to walking through that door.” – Reuters
Online Reporter