Mikel Arteta accuses 'several players' of holding Arsenal back

Mikel Arteta has said a number of players were holding Arsenal back when he first took over.

Arteta replaced Unai Emery as the club's manager at the end of 2019 and, after a mixed start, has turned things around with the Gunners currently sitting top of the Premier League.

Earlier in Arteta's reign, on-pitch matters were overshadowed by a fall-out between him and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with the Spaniard dropping the striker from the first-team squad and the club terminating his contract soon afterwards.

Looking back at the matter, the Arsenal boss says Aubameyang - now at Chelsea - was one of several players there at the time that was holding his team back.

"First of all I didn’t take that decision, we took that decision as a club," he told Sky Sports.

"Obviously there is my recommendation and what I feel that we need to do to get where we want, but I wouldn’t like to single out one player. I think it was with several players.

"It was part of the strategy of what we’re trying to build. At the end of the day, when you are in that process and you want to go faster there are people holding that boat [back] and putting weight on it.

"I’m sorry but we want to go even faster and there’s no time, whether it’s a player or a staff member, for someone damaging the club and we made that decision."

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