According to le10sport, Barcelona are prioritising a move for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before the end of the January transfer window.
The La Liga champions are in need of a replacement for Luis Suarez who will miss the next 3-4 months following surgery for a knee injury.
With just 18 months left on his current deal, and with no sign of him putting pen to paper on a new contract, Barcelona may test Arsenal’s transfer market mettle with a bid before the end of the window this month.
The Gunners have dealt with situations like this poorly in the recent past. Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey left for free last summer; we took part in the worst swap deal in history when Alexis Sanchez went to Man Utd with Henrikh Mkhitaryan coming the other way; and with just 6 months left on his deal, Mesut Ozil put pen to paper on a £350,000 deal from which we’ve never got value for money.
Whether that will make Arsenal more open to doing a deal in January remains to be seen, but of course the Catalans will have to make the first move and put a bid down on the table.
Mikel Arteta has spoken more than once about his desire to keep the leading scorer and captain, although did recall Eddie Nketiah from Leeds and retained him when it was widely expected he’d be going out on loan again.
Earlier this month, Aubameyang himself played down rumours of his departure, saying, “I would also like to react to some of the rumours that are going around about me in the media.
“People like making up stories and they should focus on what’s happening on the pitch. They talk too much and it does my head in!
“I am the Arsenal captain. I love this club. I am committed to it and desperate to bring it back to the top, where it belongs.”
It would clearly take a lot to tempt us into a sale when there’s still a Europa League trophy to play for and with it a Champions League place. The summer is a different story but for now the Poo-o-Meter is going high enough on this one.
Sell him. This season is over no europe football next season and build for the future is mos important
Ah yes. Let’s sell our best player, who almost single handedly carried us, before the season is even over. Brilliant.
Well that would be the Arsenal way…
Really? When have Arsenal ever sold a player at his best unless he wanted to leave.
rvp?
He wanted to leave.
He didn’t until Peter Hill-Wood pissed in the whisky and announced to the world “We’re not going to break the bank to keep Robin Van Persie” who was at the time arguably the best striker in Europe. United won the title the following season as a direct consequence.
Alex Song
It’s not the Arsenal way under Arteta..
Carried us to what? Top 4? Or EL? Nothing really.. neither this nor last season.. We are fucking level on pts with Newcastle after 22 games..
What kind of logic is this?
“Carried” refers to him being our most productive player scoring over 50% of our league goals over the last year. “Carried” could also refer to his Europa League semi-final hat-trick against Valencia that fired us to the Final giving us a shot at Champions League qualification.
Yes, in a squad with few natural goalscorers, Auba goals have CARRIED us when others couldn’t.
Carrying is what van persie did for us in 11-12.. or what Messi has been doing for Barca for years.. hazard did for Chelsea for long time.. without whom things would drastically deteriorate.. it can’t get worse for us really, even if auba left..
Don’t sell him outright, let’s just do swap just like the Sanchez-for-Mikhi deal. But this time let’s do the Auba-for-Messi.
We’d be in the relegation zone without him this year, and that’s not even an exaggeration.
It’s incredible that Barcelona, actual Barcelona, want to buy the Premier League Golden Boot winner from us and people are like “oh yeah sell him”. Absolutely incredible
Us Gooners need to stop acting like the club’s balance sheet is our primary concern. Our actual concern is points and climbing the table. Barca could offer 100m and it would still be a bad deal because we’d have to spend at least that to replace his missing goals!
It’s about timing, and how you want to setup your team. If Aubameyang won’t renew? Realistically we’ll have to sell him in the summer anyway. If you renew Aubameyang for 3.5 years, paying him £17million a year? That’s an investment of £59.5million, at which point he’ll be almost 34, and won’t hold any value., and if you wish to sell him beforehand? You won’t be able to, see Ozil as an example….. At some point he’ll dip physically, which isn’t ideal for a wide player in this league, so it’s about timing…. If you can get £70mill? That gives you… Read more »
Yes there’s a sound economic argument for selling a player like Aubameyang, but you can’t make the argument using only economic reasoning – because the value or worth of a player is not just the currency value of his contract. Players have sporting values as well! And right now Auba is worth about 250m to this club in sporting terms. Economic analysis alone just isn’t persuasive, and neither is the comparison with Ozil. Even if he sees out his contract and leaves on a free, Auba has been one of the best investments we’ve made in the transfer market in… Read more »
Thats 100% spot on, kaius. I don’t understand how can someone actually consider this a good idea. Selling your best player at a fragile time mid season to rat fuck Barcelona??? U guys want to get relegated? There’s is a very outside chance we qualify for CL, and win Europa, or maybe a trophy, or maybe finish over fucking Tottenham at least! How do u expect the coach to tell his players to be up for it, after selling Auba? How do you convince your youth prospects to stay here and not move to Dortmund Or Ajax, where there’s more… Read more »
Doesnt work like that.. somebody else would have stepped up..
The players who’ve scored more league goals than Auba this season across Europe are guys like Lewandowski, Timo Werner, Vardy, Ronaldo and Aguero.
but yeah we’ll be fine without him – we’ll just recall Tyreece John-Jules from Lincoln City
If* We win tonight, we’ll be 7 pts behind 4th, I wouldn’t say it’s over given the woeful inconsistency of everyone else. I believe Auba will be 32 when he finishes his contract with us and in 71apps, he’s scored 46 goals and 10 assists, that is amazing considering what’s been going on. To boot, most of those goals haven’t been down to his blistering pace. I would keep him personally, his experience and goals are priceless to us and if he wants a move for free in a season when he’s turning 33, I’ll wish him well. You never… Read more »
Absolutely Chris. I’m 100% sure martinelli wouldn’t be the martinelli we know today if it wasn’t for aubameyang. There are so many intangible things that auba adds to the squad off field and on the field like giving up penalties for laca and pepe that he’s indispensable to the current arsenal side.
It is amazing to me that people seem unaware that Chelsea, Spurs, and Man United have all had horrible stretches this season, some worse than ours. It was always ridiculous to think Chelsea would be as good a team after losing Hazard; Man United are without Pogba and now Rashford, Spurs are without Kane. (I think Leicester have probably done enough to stay in the top four–but in recent weeks they look like they will struggle to do so.)
The only swap I’d take is for VAR/referees – with that in our favour we’d be 5th in the league already.
You can’t build for the future without the europe football money
Anologus with ‘shoot yourself in the knee as you’re going to the hospital anyways’ lad. Unless we are talking about coutinho tier money it’s not even worth selling auba to them in the summer let alone a bollox loan deal in the winter
Why do you say no european football next season? We could still win the Europa League for CL entry, we could win the FA Cup for EL entry and with a bit of luck (CL starter wins League and FA Cup) the 7th place in the league would actually be enough to get an EL spot for next season. I agree that all three of those routes need a swift and drastic change of form and also – for lack of a better term – “more luck with results” in the remaining games. (I refer to ref / var decisions… Read more »
Something tells me we kept Nketiah as insurance in case our hand is forced by a big bid. Would be crazy if we sold in January.
And also the fact that Andrew has given only 7 poos getting me worried a bit. Was expecting a runny, smelly poo above 10.
Turn it up to 11
Yeah. There’s a concern that this turns into a saga if Auba even suggests he wants a move. He’s told the press he wants to stay previously but in the face of concrete interest from the world’s biggest team, he might change his tune. And while he’s always been nothing but professional for us, an agitated Aubameyang is not what we need in our dressing room – ask Dortmund. Could be our last window to get big money. Lemar and Upacemecano type money… Finally replace Cazorla type money… I would genuinely rather keep him but it’ll be very interesting to… Read more »
I.d happily sell him for big money.
It will be probably Arsenal who “persuades” Auba to be sold, they are aware of the player’s ambitions, or even a mutual thing.
I don’t want him to leave but if we got a crazy offer such as Liverpool got for Coutinho then I’d understand if we took it.
Yeah give us that Coutinho Money
Preferably next january .
Would be tough to see him go,but I agree if offer is north of 100m you’d have to consider it seriously. Eddie and Martinelli can maybe pick up some of the slack… Maybe there would be enough time to splash 40-50m on a replacement.
Who would you buy for 40-50m?
Yup. Only for maybe 80 to 100 mil, or 50 mil + dembele.
I hope he stays with all of my heart, he’s cool as fuck, scores a fuck ton of goals in the most dysfunctional arsenal team ever assembled, appears to give no fucks what people think yet expertly isn’t a dick about it. He suits us, and we suit him. I hope he feels the same about us, that’s certainly how it looks to me. And also Barca, fuck off!! They just buy everybody now what happened to the famed marzipan academy or whatever you call it? Barca dna my ring piece
Hahahaha! Couldn’t have said it better. Every fucking single thing.
100% this!
If Arteta says we need European football next season then this will mean that we won’t get it, given Auba’s %age of our goals
£100M+ and I think it is worth debating it. Anything less than that, right now we cannot as a team contemplate it when we are trying to get back into the CL.
If Barca are willing to give us all their CL money for the next three years while we rebuild then it’s a deal.
Problem is we’d need to invest immediately. And everyone would know we are desperate and flush. See Liverpool and Andy Carroll.
It’s been a difficult season and it could still go either way. With out his goals we have no chance. We’ve got plenty wrong recently but with Arteta now in place its beginning to look better.Auba with a bit of luck and a better balanced team could still get us to a final or back into Europe for next season.
I’d take Europe but only if it’s CL – EL again I could live without: my European geography has improved sufficiently to avoid the need for more obscure trips.
I’d sell him for £60-£70mill I love Aubameyang, but I’ve not been convinced of him playing wide, I think it unbalances us, and something has to give. £60-£70mill for a 30yr old is good business, at some point soon he’s going to dip physically, Alexis’s physicality dropped through the floor rapidly at a similar age. Stylistically the benchmark in the wide areas are Salah, Mane, Sane, Sterling, Mahrez, players like Ribery + Robben in their pomp, and I think Rashford’s getting there as well. Firmino for me is the benchmark No9, Lacazette does a lot of thankless work, and I… Read more »
This. Exactly.
I was going to thumb down, but then I Googled and found out that Sanchez is older than Aubameyang?! How did I miss that??
Hard to argue with anything you’ve said. Especially as I’m reminded of other teams’ chase for the title without European football to contend with.
Rabiot is dressing room nightmare
Yeah but if Rabiot had Xhaka’s professionalism and work ethic? Then he’d already be playing for Barca or Real Madrid. I think it’s worth a punt, he’s 6ft+, brilliant on the ball, very quick and powerful, and breaks quickly when he intercepts, he’s also at a good age, and level of experience. We’re desperate for more energy and drive through the centre of the pitch, and sometimes the only chance you can’t afford not to take, is to not take any. Willock and Smith-Rowe move well with the ball, but look a little off on experience still. And there’s signs… Read more »
Someone’s been playing Championship Manager again…
If we’re selling him in January it has to be for Coutinho money, an offer too good to turn down, we’re talking £100m+. We could probably still get £60-£70mill for him in the summer if it came to it, so no point selling for that now. Also can’t see Upamecano coming now when RB Leipzig are top of the Bundasliga, nor do I see us selling Xhaka either unless it’s stupid money.
If it’s 100 million plus, sell. I like Auba, but his value will only decrease, and he won’t get faster with age (pace being one of his main assets). We are not getting top 4 this year and we are not winning the Europa so the remainder of this season is about 1) Not getting relegated 2) Giving the kids loads of experience 3) Improving performances game by game. Someone will step up in his absence, they always do.
Yes. Barcelona wants him so much? Make them over pay. That is their style.
Why can’t we get top four, and why can’t we win the Europa League? It would need a bit of luck but it’s possible, why be so negative all the time?
This will be an unpopular opinion but, i’d rather lose auba than laca if one has to go.
You prefer the striker who doesn’t score to the one who has scored more goals than any other player in the league since his arrival?
I actually think auba is being “presented” for sale and barca is biting. This is what clubs do. Arsenal have to recap monies.
Very risky isn’t it? We have been down this road before. People forget that we were in desperate situations when players ran down their contracts back then. E.g. we could have sold Ramsey earlier, but you can see we are never the same without him. We would easily get third last season if he was not injured, and yes we will be bottom of the league if not for Auba! But with Sanchez and Ozil, we got it wrong because we could have let them go much earlier. Can we use the Auba money to buy better players when we… Read more »
Win today, we are in the mix, and keep him. Lose today, and have to sell for the right price. Took time and money to build Rome. We are going to need some jingle jangle to rebuild. Comes through winning … or selling and reinvesting
Really can’t see Barcelona making a 100m euro bid but if they do the board will take it given past mistakes I reckon. The lad Martinelli looks to have it all except experience so he may get that sooner rather than later.
I’d rather lose auba much later on a free than sell him to barca now who think they can just wake up one morning and want anyone cos their striker’s out injured.
Isn’t his dad or granddad a big real madrid fan? Also a factor i guess.
Swap with griezmann
Seems unlikely to me. But as already pointed out, if Barca were really willing to put down a huge sum(say over 75M), I think we’d have to consider it. We need some serious rebuilding, and it’s entirely possible we could get to next January with no CL, Auba still not signed, and risk losing him for nothing.
I’d hate to see him go, as he’s a favorite player, and we don’t have any great replacements, but we might have to think about it.
We are already £60 million short for not selling Sanchez. If above £60 we take the money
Two words
Fuck off Scum…
OK, I admit my math was a bit off there… Still, fuck off!
Now that is some serious bullshit right there. 100 % made up story. ? We would NEVER let him go. Besides I do not think he would want to leave going after his latest comments. Funny how inventing stories is called journalism. ?
Barca can ‘target’ all they want, we don’t have to take their money and exactly who could we get to replace him in January?
Waiting for claims of Auba’s Barcelona DNA.
I’d take the money if it north of $60M. We often sell too late. I dont think Auba’s best years are in front of him, I’d rather sell high, take the money, and get defenders. We’ve spent the lion’s share of our transfer $$ on forwards, and while we brought in a few bargains in the back, we havent really paid top dollar for a defensive prospect ($25M tierney is big, but not huge, and that was for a player injured at the time. Saliba, great prospect, another $25M. Again, relative to our striker fees in Auba, Laca, and Pepe.… Read more »
Sell Auba in January. Xaha and Laca in summer. Spend £150 extra on rebuild
We will probably be able to hold on but until summer only. We will definitely see one of Lacazette or Aubameyang leave at minimum. Reconstruction could be complicated for us. we are no longer an attractive proposition for many players. There are other options not least the likes of Everton even willing to spend and show ambition to hire Ancelotti to compete. Too many Arsenal fans were self indulgent and spoilt. We had issues with Wenger but he was extremely consistent through 22 odd years mostly qualifying for top 4 till very end and part of those seasons were complicated… Read more »
We shouldn’t sell just to spite the cunts. I hate that fucking club.
I love the guy. With his unwavering positive attitude, he is the new Cazorla. Selling him would mean tipping the mentality of the team towards players that use 50% of their energy raging at the referee.
If Barca (or anyone else) makes a big enough bid, then Auba will go. This way Arsenal can make the needed buys.
Eddie coming back is a precaution?
Or omen?
A rumour like this brings into specific relief the mess that is Arsenal. It seems as though whatever decision made moving forward is of massive importance. If Auba brought enough cash we could fill several needs around the pitch. If he stays he is a top talent with little creativity and defense behind him and the pressure of carrying the team. Ownership has backed themselves into a difficult corner. The hope is that Arteta is strong enough to know what/who he needs moving forward and can convince owners to back his play.
And they want a loan not a sale. The economics woukd suggest this is mind-boggingly stupid.
No point on speculating on 100 million pound offers– Barcelona want us to LOAN him, per Charles Watts on twitter:
https://twitter.com/ZRAFC/status/1219623392137170946
Loan. That’s about the most insulting offer they could have made.
Since they want to waste our time with ludicrous insulting offers, we should counter by offering them a bag of used balls for Messi.
For 200 million MAYBE
“Pierre, would you like to stay here with Xhaka and Mustafi or go play with literally the greatest footballer to ever live?”
“But Mustafi is already at Arsenal?” replied Aubamayang before laughing whilst signing a lucrative contract to play Champions League Football and live in the Sun.
Sell sell sell. He is done. Get as much as we can from mugs and move on. We have better strikers in squad. Martinelli to name the few. Thanks Auba but SELL!