Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has slammed Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for not being a team player and for his lack of impact in the Gunners' 3-0 loss to Liverpool.
Aubameyang struggled to make attacking contributions for Mikel Arteta's side as Diogo Jota's double and Mohamed Salah's strike condemned the hosts to a disappointing defeat in North London.
During Saturday’s Premier League game, the 2015 African Footballer of the Year did not register a single shot, did not win an aerial duel but he won two tackles and made three clearances - second-highest for Arsenal.
Cascarino, in his assessment, likened the Gunners captain to be a ‘second Mesut Ozil’ after he failed to impress up front.
“Aubameyang was nearly playing behind Tierney,” the 58-year-old told talkSport.
“He does frustrate me anyway because I do think he’s one of those players where I look at him and think ‘your numbers, are they an illusion?’ Because that is the only argument.
“He reminds me of a second [Mesut] Ozil where it’s going. He’s 31 years old, he’s 32 in June.
“I remember having a conversation about Aubameyang and the only debate and why you always get concerned about being critical of him, his numbers tell you he’s a great striker and gets lots of goals but to me, I just don’t see a team player there. I just don’t.”
The former Chelsea and Marseille star further rated the Gabon international as the ‘worst team player’ among other top goalscorers despite his impressive goal ratio in previous seasons.
Aubameyang has scored 14 goals in all competitions this season, including nine goals in 25 Premier League appearances so far.
“Christophe Galtier at Lille, he’s the manager. I was with him at Marseille. He had Aubameyang at Saint-Etienne and his goal ratio was one in two or close to one in two,” Cascarino continued.
“He played at Monaco, he played for a few French clubs in his career and there has always been a bit of a myth about him, I say a myth but, a lot of people have never quite known [about him], well, everyone knows he’s a great goalscorer. He always gets a good return but they have never quite known how good of a player he really is.
“I think he’s, how do I say this, the numbers guy with the best goal stats, or one of the best, but he’s actually the worst player than a lot of other goalscorers.
“You get all these goalscorers, like [Sergio] Aguero gets goals and [Jamie] Vardy gets goals, and many others but I think he’s a far worse team player than any of them.”