Mohamed Elneny believes Arsenal have offloaded the big egos from their squad, admitting Mikel Arteta’s treatment of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sent them a message.

Last December, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang began his slide towards an eventual departure from Arsenal when the club confirmed he’d had the captaincy taken away from him for his latest disciplinary breach.

Aubameyang had previously been fined for missing a Covid-19 test, he breached Covid regulations to get a tattoo, and he turned up late for a game against Tottenham Hotspur, which was reportedly “not the first time” he had reported late.

But the straw that broke the camel’s back was when he went on a trip abroad and arrived back the day after he’d agreed to return. After that, Arteta had clearly had enough and their relationship quickly deteriorated.

Mohamed Elneny says that sent a message to the rest of the squad that they couldn’t mess around, but he believes the dressing room has shaken off its big egos now.

“Everyone looked at themselves because [if] Mikel did that to the captain of the team, what is he going to do with another player? This showed that now we can’t play around,” Elneny said.

“Everyone was scared! Everyone is scared with their position because this happened to Aubameyang.

“Of course, if anyone is not the captain of the team, does a small mistake, they are going to have the same problem, and no one needs that problem.

“We don’t allow big egos. This is the dressing room we have now. Everyone loves each other and everyone works for each other. This is what actually makes our squad really strong, because we don’t have egos in the team.”

It certainly seems like the disciplinary issues of some recent seasons have dried up in 2022, but perhaps it’s too soon to say that for sure.

At least it looks like Arteta’s treatment of Aubameyang has had the desired effect on the squad. It remains to be seen whether the player himself comes back to haunt the Gunners this weekend.