Aubameyang set to leave AFCON over health concerns

Aubameyang

Gabon manager Patrice Neveu has confirmed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be sent back to Arsenal for further checks of his heart.

Concern over Aubameyang’s heart has prevented him from featuring at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Aubameyang is in Cameroon with the rest of the Gabon squad but has not played after a check-up in the wake of his recovery from Covid-19 revealed he was suffering from ‘heart problems’.

The national team would now be sending Aubameyang back to Arsenal for more in-depth health tests.

Also to be sent to his teammate is Nice player Mario Lemima.

“Since yesterday, the decision was taken to send them home to their club,” Neveu said.

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“We can’t judge it here [in Cameroon], we can’t assess the pathology of Covid here.”

“It’s important that Mario returns to Nice and Pierre returns to Arsenal,” he added. “It’s a decision that we’ve taken among ourselves.”

Aubameyang tested positive for the virus after landing in Cameroon but, after missing Gabon’s opening game, recorded a negative test and returned to team training on Thursday.

He was scheduled to play in Friday’s 1-1 draw with Ghana, only for a fresh health check-up to rule him out.

Further tests were carried out on Sunday in the hope of this being a one-off occurrence, but the same heart problem was detected once again.

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