Gabon coach Patrice Neveu has explained Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s absence from his country’s 1-1 draw with Ghana and said he hopes to have the striker available for their final AFCON group game with Morocco.
Having tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival in Cameroon, the Arsenal striker had to sit out Gabon’s opening match – a 1-0 win over Comoros – but, having taken part in training this week, was expected to feature last night.
As it turned out, pre-match tests showed the virus hadn’t completely left Auba’s system forcing Neveu into the difficult decision to leave the player in the team hotel. Reports subsequently surfaced claiming our man, and teammate Mario Lemina, were suffering from heart issues.
Speaking to ESPN, Neveu clarified the situation: “In the readings, it’s clear that Aubameyang has no cardiac problems. He [and Lemina] passed PCR tests and they were negative.
“They then did the second lot of exams, cardiac tests, and it seemed as though the pair of them had problems.
“It appears as though the virus has left a residue, it’s possible that the illness has left an impact, and two hours before the match, the team doctor and the doctor of CAF were on a phone call with me, and they told me not to play them.”
He added: “In order to protect my players, I took the decision to not play them. It’s my responsibility, so we chose not to play them.
“We’ll see what happens now, but that was my responsibility. When we got the news, Pierre-Emerick wanted to play, he left his room with his belongings, but the CAF doctor told me again, so his father had to intervene. I know it hurt him.”
On whether Aubameyang is in contention for the next game, Neveu said: “It can be possible that the illness has left an impact, but we’ll do the MRIs, we’ll see what happens and we’ll do what’s necessary.
“We’ll do the necessary and follow the protocol. We have four days [until the match against Morocco], and I hope to get them back because we need them.”
Aside from a Gabon friendly match, played in Dubai, Auba hasn’t kicked a ball in anger since Arsenal’s defeat to Everton on 19 December. It’s obviously been a very difficult spell for him but hopefully, things turn around for him.
All the best PEA, and everyone else suffering from Covid complications <3
Auba, Alphonso Davies, and the player in Qatar who suffered the heart attack on the pitch – all happening within the space of a week.
I wonder if they’ve all had the experimental drug
Can you tell us what experimental drug you’re on?
The experimenal drugs are safe and effective. Over a year into it all I can’t see a reason to be on any kind of fence here.
Get well and get stay strong, Auba.
Get well soon Auba
Apologies for the numerous posts. I just thought it was odd that they were all “awaiting approval” and disappearing, except for the “get well soon Auba” post above
Not at all odd. I’ve had quite a few posts ‘await approval’.
Perhaps put the tinfoil hat to one side for a second…
Not at all odd. I’ve had quite a few posts ‘await approval’.
Perhaps put the tinfoil hat to one side for a second…
Baaa
Eh? What are you bleating about? All I said is that comments on this website get moderated sometimes. You seemed to find it odd that some of your posts were ‘under moderation’, apparently to the point of mild paranoia.
This guy is going through a really bad patch with lots of medical issues. We can’t kick him while he is down. Let’s hope he recovers and somehow he can fix his issues with Arteta.
Hope Auba recovers and has a good AFCON
The fact that they’ve found some tiny lesions despite the fact that the players are outwardly “asymptomatic” tells you how seriously they’re taking this. I hope he’s fine and ready to contribute.
I was going to make a sarcastic quip about how somebody will certainly link it to vaccines, but it seems like I’ve been beaten to it by the real thing.
Whether it’s due to vaccine, the actual virus, or some combination of randomness, heightened sensitivity, and confirmation bias, I do feel there are more heart issues being reported recently. Even among fans it feels like the number of games disrupted by a ‘medical emergency’ in the crowd has increased post lockdown.
I don’t know if anyone has data to back that up.
COVID is known to cause heart / cardiac issues, and at much higher rates than any vaccine, so the odds are far greater it would be from the COVID itself.
As for the anecdotal observations about seeing more heart condition issues, between COVID, people delaying care due to COVID overloading the health systems, and just plain the amount of added stress everyone everywhere is under, it wouldn’t be surprising.
Weird that you were down voted for this.
I used the word vaccine in the first sentence so maybe folk voted before understanding… or some folk don’t like curiosity
Get well soon Auba, Covid is weird shit indeed…..safety first, rest up ❤️
From an Arsenal business POV, will this effect our ambitious pursuit of Vlahovic? Juventus were muted to be interested in Auba before this happened…
Better to be on the safe side. Hopefully any fears will be laid to rest as soon as possible.
Makes Novax tantrums this seem even more futile hope Auba gets well soon.
This week
Not in the light of what happened to Jeremy Chardy, Lindeloff, Aguero, etc.
Many such cases.
Get well soon, Auba.🙏🏻
Always thought his hearts not in it lately
Lol, poor taste, but kinda funny all the same
I know… sorry, dark sense of humour there and knew it would be voted down.
I hope Aba’s fine and recovers fully, quickly. Also hope we sort out his situation with Arsenal as it’s not good for anyone with the way things are