Arsenal captain Aubameyang gives brutal reaction to Antonio Conte joining Spurs

Arsenal skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang says he ‘does not care’ about Antonio Conte’s appointment at Tottenham and is not paying any attention to his north London rivals.

The two clubs have had markedly different starts to the season, with the Gunners initially under pressure after three straight defeats left them bottom of the table while Spurs were top and Nuno Espirito Santo was even named Manager of the Month for September.

But the table looks very different a few months later, with Arsenal now fifth – six points off top spot – after winning six and drawing two of their subsequent eight games.

Tottenham, by contrast, lost five of their last eight games and now sit in ninth place, four points adrift of Arsenal, and made the drastic decision to sack Nuno after losing 3-0 at home to Manchester United.

They moved quickly to bring in a world-class successor, though, with Conte agreeing a one-and-a-half-year deal to try and transform the struggling side.

The Italian has won titles with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter and was even briefly linked with the Arsenal job when Mikel Arteta was under pressure at the start of the campaign.

But despite his illustrious CV and track record of developing title-winning teams, Gunners captain Aubameyang insists he is not worried about Conte’s arrival in north London.

Asked what his first thoughts were when news emerged that Conte would become the new Spurs manager, Aubameyang laughed and told Sky Sports: ‘I don’t care! I’ll be honest, I really don’t care.

‘Like, that’s not my problem. Really.’

Asked if he was worried from Arsenal’s perspective, Aubameyang kept laughing and replied: ‘No worries. [We’re gonna back ourselves] for sure, 100%.’

Aubameyang was also asked if he would rather retire or sign for Tottenham and revealed that he actually came close to joining Spurs several years ago only for the club to pull the plug, something he has not forgotten.

‘You don’t have to ask the question, you know [the answer] already. I would retire, even more because a few years ago I was close to signing for Tottenham and at the end I don’t know what they did… so I retire, for sure, 100%,’ he said.

‘I was at Saint-Etienne if I’m not wrong, or at the beginning at Dortmund, I don’t remember exactly. I came to [the training ground], I went to the stadium as well at White Hart Lane. The day after they just never gave an answer, they never called back, so I was like, “Okay, no worries”.’

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