After keeping his country waiting, it seems as if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will accept his latest national team call-up rather than call time on his international career.
The Arsenal man was named in Daniel Cousin’s latest squad however it was not clear if he was going to heed the call or make a decision to retire from international football.
Now, according to journalist and Gabon expert, Freddhy Koula, Auba will accept the call and will arrive on Tuesday to meet up with his national teammates.
Plus de doute, @Aubameyang7 ne laissera pas tomber ses copains face au Burundi (23 mars).
Le " Capi" prendra un vol "@airfrance en direction de #Libreville ce mardi.
Les Panthères rallieront Budjumbura vendredi.
STAT PEA avec le #Gabon
51 matchs
20 buts
7 passe D#CAN2019 pic.twitter.com/7QOnMn3tdI— Freddhy Koula (@FreddhyKoula) March 18, 2019
Gabon face Burundi during this international break as part of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign and Aubameyang has been named as part of the 23-man squad.
“Pierre is indeed summoned,” Daniel Cousin told the Gabonese News Agency (AGP) last week. “I did not receive any document from his club signalling his refusal to take part in this match. He knows what I think and expect of him.”
AGP also reported that Cousin was ‘disappointed by the attitude of his captain, who seems to be no longer open to dialogue, preferring instead to express himself in the media.’
Speaking recently on the French TV show Talents d’Afrique, Aubameyang admitted he was considering retiring from international football after snubbing an international call-up back in October and being “extremely disappointed by the behaviour of certain people”.
“I am thinking hard about retiring from international football,” he said.
“I am honestly asking myself that question. Sadly I have come to this point, and I am going to make a decision.
“It could come before or after our next game against Burundi [on March 23].
“Normally I would go if called up, but I am hesitating because I want to make matters improve.
“I would love Gabon to qualify for the African Nations Cup finals. But if things don’t improve I don’t see the point of going.
“I am waiting for changes to be made. We always end up in the same situation on the eve of matches, asking questions we shouldn’t need to ask.
“I want football to become more professional in Gabon. It is what the players deserve. That is what is lacking, and it is the reason why I sometimes don’t turn up to play.
“I am extremely disappointed by the behaviour of certain people – both in the Gabon FA and higher up.”
In October, Aubameyang withdrew from the Gabon squad citing ‘backache’ although it followed a reported ‘internal dispute’ with the Gabon Football Federation.
The trouble began with the plane chartered by the National Fund for Sport Development to make the trip to South Sudan, something Auba spoke about again during this interview when he said, “We cannot fly six hours, travelling like sardines in a box.”
At the time the players considered the plane unsuitable for travel, feeling that it didn’t “guarantee all necessary travel amenities for athletes in competition“. It would have also added an extra two hours to their flight time when compared to a larger aircraft and was the same plane the squad had rejected the year before in a similar dispute.
Aubameyang led protests by players and staff which eventually resulted in a larger plane being made available to the national team. Unfortunately, by that point, it was too late to win the striker round. He’d already missed training, claiming the aforementioned ‘backache’ and refused to join the squad travelling to Juba.
The 29-year-old then “vowed not to return [to the Gabon national team] whilst the administrator of the National Fund to Sport Development is still in office”.
Aubameyang has scored 20 goals in his 51 Gabon appearances but has only played in three of their last 11 games, not making the squad for the others. He scored one and assisted one in those three games.
His international career started with an unbroken sequence of 18 games, but in the last 51 he has been absent from the squad 22 times with illness/injury cited for just two of those misses.
In September, Aubameyang also slated the Gabon Federation over the decision to name his father as manager while it was reported that some Gabon fans are unhappy with him being captain of their country.