Arsenal legend warns Mikel Arteta ‘you can’t keep falling out with people’ and manager’s ‘reputation’ could put players off signing for Gunners after Aubameyang exit

Mikel Arteta has been warned he risks damaging Arsenal's chances of signing quality players following his decision to remove Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Gunners legend Martin Keown clashed with talkSPORT's Simon Jordan over whether the boss made the right call in giving the striker the boot, with the Invincibles star saying: "You can't keep falling out with people!"

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The 32-year-old striker, who scored 92 goals in 163 appearances for the Arsenal, signed for Barcelona in the final hours of the January transfer window after a breakdown in relationship with his coach.

The Gabon international was stripped of the captaincy and banished from playing or training with the first-team after failing to return from France on an agreed date in December.

Breaking his silence for the first time since his falling out with the manager, Aubameyang said: "I think it was a problem just with him [Arteta].

"He made the decision. I can't say much more. He wasn't happy, I stayed very calm and that's it."

Aubameyang faced numerous disciplinary issues throughout his time at Arsenal, and experienced a huge dip in form prior to his removal from the first-team.

However, Keown believes the Spaniard's decision to banish the problematic striker was wrong, saying the manager risks developing a 'reputation' for clashing with players that will do Arsenal more harm than good.

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Speaking on talkSPORT's White and Jordan show, Keown said:  “What I wanted was for him [Arteta] to continue to get the best from a player, that’s the role of a manager isn’t it, win games and get the best from players?

"Is this decision in the best interest of Arsenal football club? That’s all I’m looking at. There is no replacement that has come in for the striker. Arsenal are in a fight for fourth place and have an opportunity to do that.

"What I don’t want also is the manager to get a reputation for falling out with players. I don’t know if another high profile manager has fallen out with so many players.

"Maybe it was easy to fall out with [Mesut] Ozil, people are saying I'm picking on him, but [Matteo] Guendouzi has since gone on and done quite well, he's got into the French national team.

"There have been one or two fall outs, and he may feel like he's eradicating a culture that was allowed to grow under Arsene Wenger, and I understand that.

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"But at the same time all footballers are very different, so what you have to do if find a way to get the best from everybody.

"You can't keep falling out with people!"

Aubameyang, Ozil and Guendouzi may have been ousted by the Gunners boss, but one player who appears to have escaped Arteta's apparent no-nonsense attitude is Granit Xhaka.

The Switzerland captain has been subject to criticism for his reckless tackles and wider disciplinary issues, yet has been immune to the Spanish boss' banishments.

Although he, too, has been stripped of the armband, he remains a core part of the Gunners' team despite regular misdemeanours.

Keown wonders why that is, and fears the manager's track record could prevent the club attracting top names.

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"You could argue that it seems Arteta is saying to his players, 'if you step out of line, you're out', but maybe not if you're Xhaka," he continued. "Xhaka has stepped out of line quite a few times and come straight back into the team.

"So, this sort of policy of management, is it about building a culture? Or are there certain things he’s seeing in players where he’s saying, ‘I don’t want it, you’re out the building’?

"I thought Aubameyang was part of Arteta's greatest success, winning the FA Cup, and it was a shame he was allowed to leave. I didn't want the captaincy to be stripped because I was fearful the player was going to leave - and that's what has happened.

"It's a shame the welcoming hand wasn't shown to him after the captaincy was taken away.

"...Other players are looking in, 'Are we going to Arsenal Football Club?' Can we attract the big players?"

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However talkSPORT's Jordan shot down Keown's view that Arteta should have to compromise his principles for the sake of success on the pitch, and Aubameyang's dip in form coupled with his disciplinary issues meant Arteta was entitled to his decision.

The former Crystal Palace owner said: “You’ve got three guys, all individuals, all isolated circumstances, all different and all had to be dealt with by a manager, who either prostitutes himself and compromises himself and allows things to go on that aren’t right.

"Or someone, like Alex Ferguson did with Jaap Stam, like he did with Roy Keane, like he did with David Beckham, 'enough now or you’re out'.

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"Arteta has done the same thing.

"...Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang has just shown you his character by sitting at a press conference and saying, 'it was nothing to do with me, it was everybody else guv'".