Mikel Areta insists he is not being ‘dictatorial’ in his handling of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Arsenal.
Aubameyang was stripped of the captaincy earlier this month after his latest disciplinary breach and has missed the club’s last four games against Southampton, West Ham United, Leeds United and Sunderland.
The 32-year-old has also been exiled from first-team training and will continue to train alone before departing for the Africa Cup of Nations next month.
Arteta dismissed suggestions he has been too uncompromising when speaking to reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
The Arsenal boss added his handling of the situation is not a method to establish his authority, insisting he just wants ‘respect and commitment’ from his players.
‘I don’t establish my authority by being dictatorial or trying to be ruthless,’ Arteta said.
‘I just ask for one thing, it’s respect and commitment. That’s all.
‘And if you don’t ask for that at this level, I think I pack my bags and I go somewhere else because that’s the minimum you can ask for.
‘I am sorry but I am going to expect that from everybody who works for the club. First of all myself.
‘And the day I don’t do that, I walk through that door and go and do something else. It is as clear as that.
‘To be successful you have to be passionate about something and you want to represent a club of this size with its history, that is the minimum standard you have to bring.
‘I am not going to ask anybody to put the ball into the top corner every time they hit it, but I will ask them to do the right things every single day for this club. That is for sure.’
Arsenal are set to face Norwich City on Boxing Day with Arteta refusing to rule out Aubameyang.
‘We will go game by game and we will decide the squad as we get closer to the game,’ he said.
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