London (AFP) – Gabon and Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has slammed the country’s decision to name his father as national team coach without a deal being finalised.
The Gabonese football federation (Fegafoot) announced on Wednesday that Pierre-Francois Aubameyang and Daniel Cousin, a former Gabon international, would be the new national coaching team.
But former Borussia Dortmund star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang said his father was currently in bad health and had no intention of taking the job.
“You wonder why I have problems with you? Why I don’t want to be in the squad any longer?” Aubameyang said in an Instagram post late Friday.
“The president of the federation called my dad but didn’t even bother to ask about his state of health. He’s sick at the moment.”
“(It was done) so you could rush and hold a press conference while my father had (said) that he would give his reply the following day: a negative one,” Aubameyang added.
“When the federation stops showing such amateurism, the national team will be able to move forward.”
Fegafoot admitted the premature announcement was “a situation which could have been avoided”.
It said Pierre-Francois, who is in London for health reasons, had indicated he would give his decision on Thursday but it blamed Gabon’s sports ministry for ordering the federation to make an announcement the previous day.
It added, however, that Aubameyang senior “had on several occasions expressed his desire to train the national team”.
Gabon’s Sports Minister Alain Claude Bilie-By-Nze defended his ministry’s actions, telling AFP that “being called up as a player or as a coach should lead to someone wrapping themselves in the flag”.
“At such times, the issue of procedures becomes a luxury that can be dispensed with,” he added.
Gabon’s previous coach, Spaniard Jose Antonio Camacho, was sacked in mid-September after Gabon lost 1-0 to Zambia in a friendly. In less than two years in the job, he won just two matches, losing seven and drawing eight.
