It’s no secret that Alex Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are close pals off the pitch but even the Frenchman has no idea whether his co-striker will sign a new contract at the club.
Arsenal have been trying to persuade Aubameyang to commit his long-term future to the club for quite some time but with the Gabon international already into the final year, it remains to be seen what we’ll do if he turns down the opportunity.
Raul Sanllehi is on record saying the club doesn’t want to let players run down their deals but at the same time, the prospect of selling Auba this summer in the hope of finding a similarly prolific replacement is daunting.
For his part, the 31-year-old has to weigh up both the financial and sporting implications of staying put; does he want to play at the top level now or is he willing to help Mikel Arteta rebuild so Arsenal returns there in the future? It’s a tough decision.
For the moment, Auba is keeping his cards close to his chest, so close that not even Lacazette is in the know.
Speaking to beIN SPORTS, the Frenchman said: “We stopped talking about this because at the beginning it can be funny, but after a long time it can be annoying because he wants something that is not maybe the way he would like.
“I don’t want to the guy a bit annoying so we didn’t really speak about his future.”
Whatever decision his teammate reaches, Lacazette maintains that he’s already reached club legend status thanks to his impressive gaol haul. To date, Auba has found the net 64 times in 105 games.
“He is already I think one of the legends because of the amount of goals he has scored,” said Laca. “But to be honest, I am just going to wait like everyone else, and just hope he tells me [about his future] before the press.”
Tell him to ‘sign da ting’ man!
Not a good sign. I say just keep him and let his contract expire after next season. If he gets us to CL next year then we should consider his contract fulfilled. Don’t think we can get more than 25 mill for a player who has a year left on his contract? Who can we get for that 25 mill…not even a wooden log like Ashley Barnes. not worth it!
But one year later, we would still need to buy a replacement and we may not have those 25M to add to the budget available, which can seriously curtail our options.
It is also likely that we would need more than a year to reach UCL again, so at the end of the year we may not even have that UCL money to offset a 25M asset in present value walking away for free.
I just dont see how we can replace 20 goals a season with a mere 25 mill. We still have to spend more which is not feasible in current financial situation as we are lead to believe. Keeping Auba gives us a a better chance of getting that UCL spot . That’s a risk the board has to take. And letting a player go for free is becoming the norm as Wenger predicted few years ago. Lots of big clubs are losing their big players for free as well unless you offer them huge salaries. Then you run the risk… Read more »
i see your point but just think its a bad look to keep letting our best players leave for free. if he doesnt want to stay sell him and reinvest. we will easily get 25- 30 million for him. If he stays it will just drag on and on next season is he staying is he going arsenal are so weak with this kind of thing if you dont want to stay go . you will be replaced
Still bemused why fans care so much about the money — Aubameyang is one of the best strikers/goalscorers we’ve had at the club in the past 20 years, an absolute treat to watch play as he works as hard as anyone, and he’s our captain. You’d rather the club “get some money for him” than to see him continue playing in red and white, even if only for another season? Really don’t understand that point of view …
unfortunately football is all about money these days. And the rumours are we havent got much to spend. So there is an obvious need to bring in funds to rebuild the squad rather than letting players walk on a free then having to pay big money to replace them. not rocket science is it.
Martinelli is the answer. In two years and due to age, Auba and won’t be able to score as many goals as him. We have a replacement, I think. We will need the goal-scoring midfielder next season if Auba leaves.
Tell Him?
Tough decisions to make. Personally, I think we have to be hardnosed about it. I would aggressively try to sell Auba, Laca, Guendouzi, Xhaka, as well as all the other obvious names.
I see it differently. I think our no.1 aim should be to get back among the best teams. The further it is the harder will be to attract quality players. It is just a vicious circle. I think with Auba and Laca plus our talented youngsters up front – our attack is well suited for the future – in the highest level. If we would be able to sell the likes of Sokratis, Chambers, Guendouzi, Elneny, Ozil maybe AMN or Mustafi – we could free up enough money to keep Ceballos and buy a quality midfielder like Donny van de… Read more »
Blogs did an analysis during 2017 summer on whether to let lett Alexis run down his contract with us and help us get back to champions league against accepting a 60M bid from city .. that had some sound logic.
Given Auba is older, would have anyway fetched less transfer amount, (and more so now due to covid related economic challenges) … I think I would rather keep him for next year and let him go on free..
Then I have big hopes on Gabi !!
The problem with that is that if we let him go for free, he’ll go to Chelsea or Man Utd.
Given he wants to play for Real Madrid I would imagine they might go in for him if it’s for free. He’s better than Benzema and a year younger.
I take your point and I agree regarding the vicious circle. But we’ve tried buying our way back into the Champion’s League and failed. We are over reliant on Auba, but I think we can replace his goals by spreading them between a new striker, goal scoring wide player and attacking midfielder. We need the money, frankly, to generate funds to reshape our squad so that it’s younger, more balanced and more dynamic. We have a deficit in both athleticism and technique at the moment. I would also try to sell all the players you mentioned, with the exception of… Read more »
I think there is a very interesting stat, we usually do not pay too much attention to. If you take into account not only the goals and assists but also the minutes played – I think that is a more valuable information. In this regard our best players are – of course – Aubameyan and Laca. Their numbers are: Auba: 1 goal or assist / 134 mins. Laca: 1 goal or assist / 123 mins. So I think it is better to say that we are not reliant on Auba alone. We are reliant of Auba + Laca. I think… Read more »
Based on the current defensive mid resurgence under Arteta (Torreira has just come back too) our priorities are in this order: CB, CAM, DM I really want Partey but a strong CB to pair with Saliba and/or Mari (Holding/Luiz backup) is key. Then a creative link from defence to attack is needed (even if we get Smith-Rowe back). Then a DM to impose brickwall threat in midfield. Get all three and we have 0 excuses for Top 3 under Arteta. That’s around £150-180m for all three. Selling Sokratis, Chambers, Elneny, Guendouzi and Ozil will hopefully keep that net figure closer… Read more »
I agree that a really good CB would be great. My only problem is that when I’m thinking about it I really don’t feel that I would be able to judge what we have at the moment. Is Saliba at the level of the 20 year old Varane who played 33 games at Real Madrid? Is Mari our new Mertesacker? Would Mustafi be able to maintain his current form? Or will Holding take one more step and become our own Harry Maguire? Not to mention the question of formation… To me: the answers to these questions would be the key… Read more »
I think Auba is waiting for the right offer from another team. Which I don’t blame him for -he’s been astounding and he deserves better than what we’ve surrounded him with.
Imagine how many he’d score in front of a midfield that creates chances.
Let’s just hope this corona hit transfer window will mean nobody will risk spending on him and he reluctantly signs an extension with us.
When Giroud was considered slow and Theo’s final output was a bit challenging, we so badly wanted someone to run on to those dreamy through balls from Ozil.. beating defenders for pace .. and finish them at the bottom corner (henry-esque)
that’s what Auba could do …
but unfortunately, Ozil started having those back problems 🙁
I hope he signs and goes on to break the scoring record at Arsenal, lift the league and probably an European trophy before retiring as a real legend and with a statue of him at the Emirates gates.
If we had Top 4 this season, that would’ve been possible.
Funny some fans want one of these guys sold. If Arsenal is to challenge, we must keep Auba and Laca, and fix other areas of the team. Eddie and Gabi are good, however, depending on young strikers to challenge is a risk no team desirous of the top four should take.
we probably need to improve on lacazette as our main striker if we want to challenge
I think it’s more that fans are realistic in knowing we can’t improve our problematic areas without having to sell. I don’t want to lose either, but I want some competent midfielders to improve the team, and selling is the only way we will have funds apparently.
Great player and excellent goal scorer but Legend? Come on…..
True.Otherwise we would have to consider Alexis and…….legends too.
“But to be honest, I am just going to wait like everyone else, and just hope he tells me [about his future] before the press.” – hmm, he didn’t sound positive about Auba staying.
We have competition for Laca in the form of Eddie but for Auba, particularly with Martinelli’s injury update, not sure where the goals will come from.
he knows but the bro code won’t let him say it, but from what i have read, he wants to stay but the club are not offering him what he wants and that is where the problem is, I hope he stays but if he leaves, we have been down this road many times from Henry to rvp to adebayor and we always come out with someone much better, i have faith that no matter the way this ends arsenal will still stand strong, I have faith in our coach
Really??? I can give you Adebayor but who came in that was “much better” than Henry or RvP for that matter?
The player that is/was “much better” than Henry has never existed – nor will ever exist.
giroud, wellbeck, sanogo, looking back we had a pretty good team around 2013-2016 just no decent strikers
If he won’t sign an extension, best we sell him and reinvest. What if, heaven forbid, he suffers an ACL tear early in the season? We then lose both his Services, the money we could have realized and still get to pay his wages and loyalty bonus at the end of the contract.
No need for sentiments, he’s either in or out
What if we sell him (and he ends up scoring 35 goals for his new team and wins them title) and his replacement ends up with ACL. See it’s all ‘what ifs’. We should never try to sell him. We need him massively (imo he is not just our best player but also a team captain and mentor to Nketiah and Martineli. If he leaves at the end of his contract we will have our young Brazilian ready to take his spot.
At 31 I’m not too worried. He has been brilliant and if he wants a few trophies somewhere else, I would totally understand while Arsenal are in transition.
He’s not a legend…..
….. but he could be
The concern seems to be repeating the mistake of the Ozil contract. It’s impossible to say for sure, but this guy is an incredible goal scorer and he’s still happy to run the left flank, including dropping deep to keep the defensive shape and occassionally helping out the full back.
I don’t think he’s a one-dimensional player the way Ozil is and, even at 34-35, he could genuinely be the difference in a European final (which is what we should be targeting in 3 years).
The question is whether he is more likely to get us into the top 4 than the replacement we could get by selling him.
I don’t see how we have a better season without his goals. Whatever happens, we have to keep him for a year. Give Eddie and Gabi some time to learn and earn money in this window from Laca/Xhaka/Sokratis/Mustafi (and try and use the wages saved to tempt our BEST player to stay…)
I have a feeling we sign him up. ESPN reported that Lampard and Cech wanted him at Chelsea but the hierarchy told them to get Werner instead due to Auba’s age. Clubs have been rocked by the coronavirus and stung by expensive ageing flops like Sanchez, so probably don’t want to take a risk on older players with little sell-on value. At the same time there aren’t many (if any) top clubs in desperate need of a CF upgrade, and Auba does not offer much value on the wings compared to younger players like Sancho and Ferran Torres.
I want Aubameyang to stay in Arsenal and build the team for a great come back.
probably guarantees 25 goals next season. What are they valued at? Around £1m each seems fair – so if on offer comes in above £25m sell, if not keep
A legend already. But I don’t think we’ll retain Auba past this season
At the moment, he is not close to signing da ting. One he is close, you’ll be the first to know