Mikel Arteta persuaded Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to stay at Arsenal to create a legacy in the club.
“I’ve been dreaming about it for quite a long time. I’ve been dreaming about it for a year [ago],” he said in an interview with former Arsenal star Ian Wright.
“I have had a talk with Mikel, that I think he gave me a very good idea of the club’s future and of me.”
“He was clear and frank and I appreciate that because we are always honest. He said: All right, maybe you should go. I don’t know what your mind is [thinking] right now, but in other clubs, you can go and go for trophies or you can sit here and have a reputation.”
“It was an important word for me.”
He added: “When we were in lockout, we had a conversation, he called me. Typically we had to talk about a game. I have to do a description, and you have to explain how the game works.”
“He called me, saying, ‘Forget it.’ Maybe two pages I had prepared and he said: ’Hey, forget it. Let’s talk about things that are real.”
“He said: ‘I want to be honest with you, how are you feeling?’ I was like, I have to tell the truth: ‘I feel really well,’ it might have been two or three months since he was here. [In] school, you can feel the excitement. You can feel it all from this guy. He’s very well and he’s the type of man you can trust.”
“That’s why I said to him: ‘I feel really good. I’m just worried about what you’ve told me about legacy and other things. I think it’s the right way and the true way to go.’”
