What's even more baffling is that players have been frozen out by Arteta for way less, with Auba's whole saga coming to mind, and the whole "standards" thing seems utter bullshit now. Yes, Auba didn't return at the agreed time....because he had a family crisis? If I recall, it did come out that his mother was not well. I mean come on, this was more a valid case of missing work than having to report in at the police station. #5 did "mysteriously" get scratched from games because he had to report in. Let's not kid ourselves, the club knew more than the general public given the charged was their asset.

So what's the fucking standards, Mikel? What exactly are the non-negotiables then?

[–] Astrealix@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

I mean, Auba's thing was also that it was a repeated pattern of lateness, especially as captain. I wouldn't be surprised if Partey and his camp threatened to sue if while under contract Arsenal tried to freeze him out or suspend him or anything of the sort over the right to privacy, for the same reason that no outlet officially identified who it was. That being said, the fact that he was offered a contract extension makes it clear that either Arteta and crew genuinely believed he was innocent (somehow), or that there are no standards on issues like this.

Considering how even players and staff that left didn't say anything, I'm leaning towards the former, but the club really needs to address and explain what they did know and why they did what they did.