Arsenal have been told that bringing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back into the team is no longer an option after his transfer to Barcelona collapsed on deadline day.
Club legend Paul Merson reckons the striker's Gunners career is all but over, having been frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta since he was stripped of the captaincy in December.
However, Aubameyang is likely to remain in north London for the second half of the season,
ESPN reported that Arteta would try to patch up his relationship with him as a 'last resort' if he failed to find a new striker in the January transfer window.
But Merson believes the Spanish boss and the 32-year-old are now even further part after Aubameyang made a shock trip to Barcelona on Monday with the hoping of sealing the deal before the 11pm deadline.
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"I think he's gone over there for that reason and it hasn’t worked out. They're just even further apart now," Merson said on Sky Sports News after Aubameyang's deadline-day move collapsed due the two clubs being unable to agree a wage split.
"I just don’t know how he can [come back from this]. I just don't see it. I think the only big advantage is he might play in the under-23s and help the kids.
"If he wants to play football. It's a shame how this is ending because he was top drawer and it's sort of fizzling out a bit, it's a shame."
The former Arsenal star was then asked where it went wrong for Aubameyang, who lost the armband for a disciplinary breach, understood not to be the first time he has angered Arteta with his behaviour.
"I think (it's between) him and Arteta. The story when he went to see his mum, communication broke down there," Merson added.
"Maybe that should have been done behind the scenes. It come out far too quickly, they should have sat down both parties but it was blown up straight away and that's why he's not played.
"Arsenal really need him, he's a top player on his day. If he plays to the best of his ability he gets in the team every week."
Arteta has remained coy on the situation, maintaining that it has been treated game by game before the Gabon international jetted off to the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this month.
"I don't establish my authority by being dictatorial or being ruthless," the Gunners boss said, speaking after he received backlash for the decision. "I just ask for one thing: respect and commitment.
"At this level, if I don't get that I pack my bags and go somewhere else because that is the minimum I can ask for. I am sorry but I am going to expect that from everybody who works for the club.
"First of all myself. And the day I don't do that I walk through that door and go and do something else. It is as clear as that.
"To be successful you have to be passionate about something and you want to represent a club of this size with its history, that is the minimum standard you have to bring.
"I am not going to ask anybody to put the ball into the top corner every time they hit it, but I will ask them to do the right things every single day for this club. That is for sure."
