Arsenal have confirmed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has left the club by mutual consent allowing him to sign for Barcelona as a free agent on a six-month contract with the option of a year-long extension.
The striker completes his move to the Nou Camp 57 days since his last appearance for the Gunners.
At that point, the 32-year-old was considered a vital component of Mikel Arteta’s first team but following a disciplinary breach, he was stripped of the captaincy and forced to train alone at London Colney.
He was released to play for Gabon at the African Cup of Nations in late December but subsequently tested positive for Covid and completed a frustrating few weeks by being returned early to London for a medical assessment.
Sensing an opportunity to relieve him from his misery, several clubs made contact with the player during this period, including two sides in Saudi Arabia and Juventus.
Despite failing to find a replacement, Mikel Arteta seems happy enough to sanction Aubameyang’s exit which underlines just how much his relationship with the striker has deteriorated.
The Spaniard had gone out of his way to persuade Aubameyang to stay in September 2020, handing the player a three-year contract worth £55 million following his FA Cup-winning exploits.
Signed by Arsene Wenger from Borussia Dortmund for £56 million four years ago yesterday, Aubameyang scored 92 goals in 163 appearances for the club.
We wish him the best of luck at the Nou Camp. He’s got a Europa League double-header with Napoli on the horizon and will be tasked with helping Xavi’s side close the 15-point gap on league leaders Real Madrid.
Farewell auba. It didn’t end well, but i will not forget what a beast you were those first 2.5 seasons. Anyone who plays football with a smile like he does deserves the best, good luck at barca G.
I have never hidden my immense love for Auba and was over the moon when we signed him. He has been an amazing servant of the club and has departed with his head held high, taking a serious pay cut to move away once he discovered he was no longer wanted here.
P.E.A. going to Barca is the best solution for all involved but I feel like his falling out with Arteta could have been managed better.
Wish you all the best PEA
How do you know he took a serious pay cut?
A great signing and was absolutely worth the money. As he goes, I’m reminded of that goal against Sp*rs that he took first time on the edge of the box and his performance in both legs of the Valencia semi final. Football changes a lot, and fast. And a bit like Ozil, I fear that Auba’s type is a dying breed. CF’s are expected to do a lot more than score goals now and for a player like Auba, that’s what he excelled at. He put the ball in the net. But he did try to widen and improve his… Read more »
I swear you just make shit up sometimes. Many of Auba’s “other” stats, such as shot creation, xA and defensive actions, markedly declined in recent years, and since his time with Dortmund. And those stats are generally better than many other strikers. So the ideas that a) “Auba’s type” is someone who doesn’t do much but score goals, and b) he expanded his game in recent seasons, are completely contradicted by the evidence.
I make almost everything up. No ghost writers for Johnny.
Auba was, until 18 months ago, by far the most valuable commodity we had. And yes, he should have been at a bigger club in his prime.
The inability to see any further back than the last few months is quite astounding by some of our fan base.
I totally agree with that- but that’s not what you said! You said that he was a poacher/pure goalscorer that had tried to expand his game in recent seasons. And that’s completely contradicted by the stats. You’ve completely shifted the goalposts with that reply.
Dude, this isn’t an ITV2 courtroom drama. Chill your beans.
I was merely referring to his increased desire to close down, press and track back, ergo being more than just a fox in the box.
The part I disagree with is “a bit like Ozil, I fear that Auba’s type is a dying breed.” I heard a lot about how modern football has no room for a number 10 type-player. It was silly, unless you define it so formally that it doesn’t include most of the best midfielders in Europe. As for Aubameyang, I assume you mean a poacher who doesn’t create chances for himself but relies on his pace and service from others. In Aubameyang’s case, there is (or was) also a brilliant ability to make the perfect run that allows that finish. I… Read more »
Too good for us?? Are you serious?
For a long period of his time with us, yes. Not so much in the last 18 months.
Do you think a 30 goal a season, £60m striker should be finishing 8th in the league?
He was a champions league player in a Europa League club.
That goal against Spurs!!! The quality to take it first time, the pace and curl of the ball. I’ll never forget Lloris rooted as he watched the ball tuck just inside the post. The Emirates was going absolutely bananas.
FA Cup was the highlight and he was HUGE in that game! Scored some crackers, but we need more contribution from our striker in build up in our current formation and he’s fading out fast. This was the best situations.
Sad end, I just want the team to learn it’s lessons after back to back 350K/week contract disasters.
Not sure what Barca see in him. I will surely be following Barca games to see how Auba fit in. But the fact remains that Arsenal need someone more committed.
I’m afraid I see another Aguero situation for him at Brokealona FC. I don’t think he will play much, if at all
It’s the new norm in Arsenal to kick players out with mutual consent. No big team or big manager acts like this. Arteta is just unable to resolve any issue with players. Instead of keeping things secret, he makes issues public and then no one can resolve it.
Pretty impossible for a club to keep anything private these days. Players have so many hanger-ons that everything gets out, I dont think you can blame Arteta for that.
However I’m behind him in terms of discipline, and yes at the cost of a few league places. Once it’s established and enforced we should get the best from our players without all the pissing about they like to do.
Would love to know the details of the bust up before passing judgement
We’ve been promised All or Nothing…hopefully it ain’t nothing.
Not looking like all though.
I can’t imagine we’ll ever find out the full details of the disciplinary breach, it’s a shame it went that way but best of luck to him and us
He said Artes had Playmobil hair and we all know it is Lego hair.
There was obviously no coming back from that
If only there was a documentary camera crew following Arsenal this year…
Ozil fine, Guendouzi fine, Auba…benefit of the doubt. If Arteta cant patch things with Saliba over the summer then he should not be a manager.
Agree with this. Not known a manager to fall out with this many players in such a short amount of time before without backing the decisions up with results.
He’s cracking the whip and has no choice. I loved Wenger but there’s no denying the club had become a very comfortable place for players which just isn’t enough to compete in the modern game. Emery was far too weak. Yes Arteta has had to “fall out” with players, but how else do you expect him to manage? I for one would be more concerned if he kept backing down and letting playboys play. Does anyone bat an eyelid when Pep puts Foden on the naughty step? Love Auba but he was a repeat repeat repeat offender, so glad this… Read more »
A full world class Ozil who Lego heed fell out with & couldn’t get best out of too ? Repeat repeat repeat Ozil Auba Guendouzi Saliba Torreira Martinez Hector That’s not good management on personal or footballing levels
Torreira was 100% Emery. He played him in a stupid position, shot his confidence, and torreira seemed to not be able to recover after. Also that distraught face he had when xhaka first fell out with arsenal fans when throwing his shirt down made me think torreira was done with Arsenal by then.
Actually it is good management. And long overdue.
Yes, and this isn’t even a criticism of Arsene – he could afford to be lenient with players because his title-winning sides were stacked with leaders who took responsibility on the pitch and in the dressing room. By the time he stepped down, those leaders were gone and replaced by different cliques of players. We know how bad it was because when Emery held a captaincy raffle, the players chose Xhaka of all people lol And after Xhaka’s meltdown, Auba tried to step up, but we all know it wasn’t in his character to be THE captain. He’d never been… Read more »
This is poor management, rather than falling out with players, you use them for what you can and you quietly sell them. This falling out with Ozil, Auba, Guendouzi, Sokratis, Mustafi, combined with the leniency towards willian, Ceballos and the odd signings are draining the club of financial resources. I don’t buy the Arteta being tough because he needs to be. His rant to the team about the leaks were showing he is creating his own chaos. When he is let go, we will see he won’t be successful anywhere else because no other club will tolerate such economically catastrophical… Read more »
Patch which things up?
Yup, this will be a defining feature of our summer. 24 months left on his contract.
There’s no beef between Arteta and Saliba, that’s just media spin, he’s benefitted from development and will be an important squad member next season.
Sure, they must be besties texting each other daily.
2.5 years of a 5 year deal spent on on loan and the other half season spent on the bench or in the stands (unqualified to play behind superstars like Mustafi and a long-term injured Mari). Not a single first team game to the name of a €30M Euro signing. Total media spin.
You haven’t even seen this kid play at the highest level – because he hasn’t (and please don’t give me any French league is amazing bollocks)- yet somehow he’s the next beckenbauer…lol…when he’s ready he’ll play for Arsenal…if he’s not playing for Arsenal, he ain’t ready. Simples.
This will not please too many. At the time, Mustafi was almost certainly a much better defender, much less likely to cost us goals, much more likely to move the ball forward, than playing an 18 year-old Saliba. And yes, I am fully aware of how many goals Mustafi did cost.
It’s like Xhaka. He is not good enough, really, but he is much better right now than anyone we could replace him with.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EpEDYTwXYAcuoWi?format=jpg&name=large Saliba to Guendouzi (Translation) – Hahaha, I’m sending well wishes to the brother that was locked up like me 😂😂😂 [ December 2020] https://www.skysports.com/app/transfer/news/12691/12213175/william-saliba-mikel-arteta-judged-me-on-two-and-a-half-matches-at-arsenal#:~:text=William%20Saliba%3A%20%22He%20%5BArteta,but%20football%20is%20like%20that. Saliba – “He judged me on two and a half matches” [Feb 2021] Saliba joins Arsenal outcast Guendouzi, at Marseille despite Arteta preferring an English loan [July 2021] Saliba (on Arsenal experience) – “I played for the youth team. It was a good slap in the face” .”Even if it didn’t go well on a personal level, I take it as an experience. It gave me a stronger mentality” [Jan 2022] Yes, it is quite… Read more »
We’re believing the Arsenal board who just transferred Arsenal’s revenue to Colorado Rapid with the trusty sale to increase Rapid’s allocation money over Ozil’s word.
Ozil was crap before Arteta arrived
glad he’s out. wished we could’ve gotten vlahovic, but if we can’t compete for top 4 with laca up front and nketiah/martinelli as ST backups, then idk. i hope arteta and edu find a good ST in the summer. i’m gonna give them the benefit of the doubt seeing how great last summer’s acquisitions turned out.
I’ll raise “hope” to it’s “essential” we find a striker in the summer. We very well may be down to two young wingers (Balogun and Martinelli) as our lone striking options.
I can see it now.
Laca leaves and Mikel gives his word to Eddie that he’s now the main man.
With that vote of confidence he signs a 4 year 150k contract, with the option to extend for a year and the number 9 shirt.
Any selling clubs will be asking for crazy amounts, knowing how desperate we’ll be for a striker
Thanks for the memories, and thanks for not sitting around collecting wages!
Good luck in Spain.
Kinda think he did sit around collecting wages last 18 months…that was the problem…
End of an era.
An era of desperation to score goals in a dysfunctional team. He was REALLY good at it.
Now we need striker who complements the whole team. Being involved in the play that Auba never truly was.
113 G/A in 162 games for us if I’m not wrong. Just goes to show how good he was those first 2.5 seasons when you consider how little output he had these last 1.5 years, to still have incredible numbers like that. Will miss the guy – I’ll remember him for his performances against City and Chelsea to win us that FA Cup, truly emblematic of how much we relied on him back then. Good luck at Barca Auba.
This 100%
I am extremely saddened. He won us our latest trophy rights as Arsenal fans.
We can laugh at others longer. This laughter is what life is about. Make fun of ManU and **** whenever you can.
Really wish Arsenal knew how to part ways gracefully…. been a long time. Vieira, Pires, Fabregas, Van Persie, Ramsey, Ozil, now Auba – all legends (or nearly) of the club that ended with a sour taste.
Arteta and BFG are the only ones I can remember retiring at the club since Wenger, and Henry the only that kept playing elsewhere with any semblance of a relationship still in tact.
Pretty sure Vieira and Pires were ok when leaving, as were Ramsey and Fabregas (to some extent). People were ok with Ozil leaving after a while. Which leaves RVP… and we all know why he left with a sour taste. I’d add Alexis to that list far higher up than the others.
Alexis, why? He wanted to be a part of something more, what did we offer him compared to what he gave us during his time? No ambition. None. Signed Petr Cech in an entire transfer window and settled for winning an fa cup instead of going for leagues and beyond round of 16 in CL.
I have no bad feelings towards Sanchez, quite the contrary, I’m still in love, I know that if another player with a heart like that came along for us we’d be over the moon again.
Sacrificed his best years for us, remember that.
Ramsey contract was withdrawn at last minute after he was initially offered. Left on a bitter note
Ramsey’s contract had been on the table for months, he refused to sign it (as reported here on arseblog). Could have got £60 quit for him if he’d signed it.
At least with van Persie we got a decent fee.
I agree you could add Alexis too – but I was more or less referring to a proper send-off, Vieira I’m sure didn’t think he’d kicked his last for Arsenal winning the FA Cup; Fabregas was smeared the entire summer leading up to his move, Van Persie was so wishy washy he held us hostage all summer, Pires’ last act for Arsenal was getting yanked in the Champion’s league final in the first half – something he admitted was hard to forgive Wenger for – Ramsey told to go as if he was an ex-girlfriend at a birthday party, and… Read more »
Koscielny, too. 🙁
Very dumb to let him go without atleast getting a loan signing that is better than Nketiah till end of the season. We know what we are getting with Nketiah and it’s not a top 4 finish, I can garuntee you that. And does anyone know what this process is?? What are we trusting in? What are the details? Looks to me more like a term someone pulled out of their a$$.
There’s a pretty clear process, cut the crap and the problem
Makers.
Whether you agree with it or not is another matter, but the process is very clear.
What is the process?? Tell me?
Yeah? When’re we cutting Arteta?
If you don’t know the process by now … you will never never know it, Because it passed you by. 😉 Seriously, though, it’s a shame it ended this way with Auba, but kudos to the club for going hard for Vlahovic and not settling on anything less. We’ll get our new strike force this summer – as with our style of play, we build from the back. The team is now lean and mean and has one target — finishing top four. I don’t think it is going to happen, but that does not bother me in the slightest… Read more »
What is the process? Tell me? If you can?
In the simplest of terms, the process underway at Arsenal FC is rebuilding the club to be competitive (i.e., challenging for top honours) in a sustainable way. At the moment it seems to depend entirely on the decisions of Edu and Arteta, but this mode of operation will, ideally, outlive their tenure with the club. They are its architects, but the structure will endure (Ozymandias). This has involved rebuilding everything from scouting to the attitude of the players on the pitch — perhaps nowhere best displayed than their persistent interaction with the fans post-game in the great shirt give-away. Arteta… Read more »
Fair enough. Most of that is a reasonable take. I do struggle what is sustainable about all this though. How is the perpetual manager-player bickering sustainable? How is not getting the market rate for most outgoing players sustainable? How is terminating the contracts (all of which still involve some form of payout) of more players than the rest of the league sustainable? How is borrowing loans to payoff contracts and fund transfers sustainable? How is the fact that our top scorers are cumulatively outperforming their xG by 5.7 goals sustainable? It might sound incredibly pessimistic to you but I just… Read more »
I am certain that Saka, Smith Rowe, and Odegaard are good enough to play regularly in a top-4 side. I am increasingly confident that this is also true of Martinelli. I think it is likely to be true of all of our starting back five, the oldest of whom, I think, is Tierney. That’s pretty sustainable. The rest of the project, not in order: (1) adding cover at most positions because there is a severe drop-off in quality (I think Lokanga will develop sufficiently, but he may become a starter, not cover; I have hopes for Tavares; Saliba–if he comes… Read more »
Excellently put.
Thanks for articulating Futsboller. Agree with what you’ve written and it’s interesting to see that others don’t see what’s been happening in the same way.
Learned something new in Ozymandias, hadn’t heard of it before – cheers!
“Lean and mean”… “one target but I don’t care if we achieve it”… you’re well placed to work in PR my friend, but fandom has passed you by.
Not really understanding the downvotes. It’s clear there’s a plan… but when we’ve prioritised the defence that let in a low amount of goals in the previous season, you’re going to get naysayers. I can’t see us getting top four with that squad. Hope I’m eating my hat at the end of the season though.
The issue is there is not one Arsenal fan who can clearly explain what the process is? I am just curious?
Okay I’ll bite. The process is to steadfastly focus on restoring the club to an elite mentality, in the long run, which requires confidence, a strong will and discipline. This can be witnessed in the profile of players coming in, not only young and technically gifted, but with emphasis on the human aspect of collaboration and team spirit. This can be witnessed in tough days like yesterday when, whilst shifting out deadwood and poor attitudes that are a risk of setting a bad example for younger players, we didn’t just throw money at opportunistic players for the sake of bodies… Read more »
Good stuff. In preparation for the meltdown being streamed, let me refer you to a previous Amazon product documenting an organisation lost, flailing under the leadership of a former player well out of his depth in coaching.
https://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/cricket-australia-amazon-prime-documentary-justin-langer-wanted-scene-cut/news-story/bdedcd6f7414d575eb3129ff805c4ef1
“Elite mentality”, please.
Well said Bob. I think it’s interesting that whenever we’re linked with a player now, there’s always an alternative linked too. With Tomiyasu it was Emerson. With Ramsdale it was the West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone who most pundits said was a level above Ramsdale. It would have been a HUGE relief to see Isak or Raul de Tomas arrive yesterday, but I kind of respect the fact that we only went for our top target in Vlahovic, and didn’t settle for the others. Even if Arteta’s project collapses and he leaves before next season starts, the next coach will… Read more »
That’ll be the coach who subsequently won them the t20WC and thrashed England in the Ashes?
Who’s facing a mutiny for micromanagement and is less than likely to get a new contract. The very same.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/langer-meltdown-appears-to-spell-the-end-for-australia-coach-20220131-p59sn6.html
And every other cricketing nation is desperately hoping the Aussies continue this insanity and get rid of him!
Langer is a cheat, a bully, a stain on cricket. Appointing him to “restore Aussie cricket culture” summed up the essence of Aussie cricket culture. If you think he’s good, I can see why you’re okay with Arteta.
That’s quite a different thing from Aussie cricket excellence, which was built on fitness, technological innovation, (relatively) un-biased selection and a healthy domestic game which gave players a good mix of competition and security. All things we could probably use (analogues of) at Arsenal, instead of hand-waving about culture.
I still doubt Arteta is elite though. At least not yet. Many a fine coach has not made the step up to head coach or manager.
Come on now, stop being silly.
How dare you not whine and bitch about us not making panic signings while clearing out the mess, when a clear, long term plan is evident.
Much appreciated. So…
How can we establish elite mentality when the current culture involves excuse making and accepting matches as foregone defeats when we face elite sides?
This ‘current culture’ really only refers to the Artetaters such as yourself, who gleefully prophecy doom and sieze on the slightest reason to write our club off.
Are you saying we can be like Man city if we stick to a process? Do you know how much money man city has spent to get where they are? What would you say if we finish 8th again? What are you basing this progress on? Couple of good signings? Are you by any chance turning a blind eye on all the negatives since Arteta took over? Do you really think Nketiah is part of this process? Do you think if we qualify for the European conference league we can attract big names? What happens if next season is the… Read more »
I’m sure saka and esr began the process with Wenger, not Arteta.
The process is offloading players who aren’t contributing enough, rebuilding an entire squad, instil professional mindset throughout the entire club, changing staff…the list goes on and on. Arteta has been making a lot of changes.
It’s process is VERY clear.
Rebuilding? How? Saka,ESR, Martinelie were here before Arteta under Emery. I am really happy and give the club credit for Ramsdale and Tomy joining us. Getting rid of deadwood is also great. But do you really think Stan is going to invest in this team like City, Chelsea, or Liverpool? We are miles behind them and have the owners who are going to fight with the top 3. We are out of both cups and no European games. Not scoring enough goals, too many red cards, striker situation is a mess. The whole Auba saga was a mess. There are… Read more »
The process is as clear as it’s ever been. I’ve no problem with it. The issue is that leaving the squad in its current condition for the last 17 games is negligent. Our backup options are either children or rubbish. One injury to Tomi, and the whole right side is fucked. One injury to Thomas Partey (or sending off) and our midfield is a mess. One injury to Ramsdale and/or White, and we can’t distribute from the back. One injury to Saka and/or Martinelli and our pressing/attacking threat (joke here) dries up. We have a goldilocks team where the slightest… Read more »
Have to agree – would love to know the thinking behind giving up on Bruno, likewise what happened to Aouar and Renato Sanches, etc?
Likewise why we didn’t snap up Edouard at 19m and/or Giroud for just 1m? And then there’s Tammy for 32m – the less said about that cock-up the better… not sure what grates me more: his 10 goals + 3 assists in just 22 games or the fact that he’s scoring ’em for Maureen!
Futsboller just did – extremely well, I might add.
None so deaf…
Yes downvotes for asking a question seems a bit much
Best of luck– to a nice guy.
Pleased to see a contemporary player happier to play football than collecting a fat paycheck.
It is still a fat cheque. 1 week’s wage will still be many times what most get in a year. He could certainly afford to take a cut.
What most households probably get in 2-3 years
Is it me, or do we seem to have a lot of messy break ups these days? Prior to Ozil, I’m not sure I remember a contract at Arsenal being terminated by mutual consent. Certainly not for a ‘first team’ player.
But in a footballing world where money is king, why should we let key players happily terminate their contract under mutual consent? You don’t see Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea or City doing that, do you? And there’s a reason for that.
not to be harsh but the teams you’ve cited still have relative brand power to the extent that clubs are willing to shell funds out on that basis. although sanchez, mikhi, hazard, willian et al may have folks rethinking this. unfortunately arsenal’s brand isn’t what it was such that it has been hard to secure funds for the cast offs from a mid-table squad. as we improve, so will our brand and our ability to recoup funds for players who are surplus to requirements.
It’s definitely a consequence of Arteta being in charge. I doubt any of this continues happening whenever his successor joins. I can imagine the football execs at other clubs are probably laughing their heads off.
I don’t want to sound bitter, and I don’t wish Auba any ill-will personally, but I’d find it really hard to take if he performed really well at Barca. I’d be much happier if he was just a bit underwhelming…
Nobody really wants to see their ex happy with someone else.
I think that depends on the ex in question. 🙂
Xhaka? I’d wish the guy a Champions League medal if it just meant I didn’t have see any Gooner complain about or defend him ever again.
That will change if Arsenal do well
Great point. If we do well, it matters a lot less if Auba also does well.
Goodbye and thanks for the memories, Auba!
I wish a reconciliation could have been found, but it wasn’t meant to be.
This is trivial in the grand scheme of it all but all in all a positive to have a guy chummy with those AFTV nonces out the club.
Doesn’t seem like Auba did much wrong (other than not play that well) – Arteta just ruthless in correcting a mistake (the long contract). I approve
I hope we get a chance a some point to show our qppreciation for what he did for us.
We have shown our appreciation with the ticket prices at the Emirates
I suppose we could get drawn with Barcelona in next season’s UEFA Conference League.
He got about 300,000 tokens of appreciation a week for the last year and a half.
It should have remained private and never aired in public. Another example of Arteta’s lack of people management skills causing problems.
If top players see the way he has treated Ozil and now Aubameyang who will want to play for him? Is this what happens when you disagree with him?
Bad management skills – you would never see Wenger behave like this…
I’d look at it the other way around two players that took the big contract (as we all would) and stopped playing particularly in the Ozil case.
Particularly not with Ozil – he was playing well. Look how we did before and after he was dropped. How many hours without a goal from open play was it?
You can’t see the wood for the trees if you think Ozil didn’t stop playing.
It is private, nobody knows what really happened.
But Arteta/Edu were sure happy to use their mouthpiece at the Athletic to insinuate that Auba had been really really unprofessional, without giving any specifics whatsoever
Snide self-serving behaviour
I’m really going to enjoy when they start using the Athletic to brief against each other. Might even subscribe.
Yeah that information leaking stuff is just pathetic. The Athletic always seem to somehow magically get the “scoop” on out of favour players at convenient times.
If that’s the culture Mikel is trying to implement, I don’t want it anywhere near the club.
Could have left him out the team for 6 weeks with one of those “back injuries”
It wasn’t made any more public than it had to be. No-one outside the club knows what happened, so the reasons other than ‘disciplinary reasons’ have not been shared.
Indeed. Egomaniac + No success = recipe for disaster.
Every agent worth their salt will already know about his antics and will be letting their top clients know the risk.
It just makes attracting players more difficult than it needs to be.
What a fucking shame it ended like this.
I would be shocked if whatever it was he supposedly did was half as bad as what Xhaka had done.
We now have absolutely no leverage and HAVE TO buy SOMEONE in the summer.
That’s a recipe for a fucking disaster.
Positive as ever, mate.
Thanks for the memories and good luck to Auba. Will miss his backflip celebrations!
Wonder will the tell-all come in the All or Nothing series? We certainly hope so.
Its been a strange couple of months for him (and arsenal). It seems a bit wrong to let him go without a replacement like many others have said, and it must of been bad whatever he did to make it get to this. Maybe Arteta is being too harsh? I guess we’ll never know. But he was a great player for us, hopefully people haven’t forgotten that. I for one will be sad to see him go under these circumstances
It has been strange. It all started going downhill for him when he was made captain – it was never his role and he was never comfortable with the pressure of it. Truth is we have not had anyone at the club that you could call captain material for years and he was just the best of a bad bunch (of potential captains) I wish him luck – I think he will struggle there as his game used to rely on his pace exploiting space but that pace has now gone. At least we have saved £25 million in wages… Read more »
I couldn’t believe it when we signed him, it was just too good to be true especially with Sanchez leaving. He gave us his best and lots of goals, they kinda dried up in the last couple of years but he’s not getting any younger too. I have no idea what cumulative breaches took place behind the scenes and as a fan all I can wish him is the best except when we meet
Good luck, Auba, you brought us joy many times. Keep that smile, you were a good #14.
All the best Auba. Thank you for your service and that awesome wife smile
Credit to Auba and Arteta and the camp to keep the bust up so private and confidential.
I think Laca, Martinalli and Nkethia are enough cover for the striker position. With Auba it always felt as we were playing with 10 players.
Lot of work for Edu for summer
Thank you for everything Auba. Grabbed the mantle from Alexis to carry our goalscoring burdens on his shoulders. His FA Cup final goal vs Chelsea was a highlight for me watching Arsenal in recent years, cemented his status as an Arsenal great in my eyes. Sad things ended on a sour note, but maybe this is the best for all parties.
Meanwhile having let Auba go and failed to buy a replacement, the spotlight is on Arteta. Masterstroke or mismanagement? Time will tell.
Oh dear
Arteta is a very technically astute coach but no Arsene when it comes to man management.
Especially understanding that creative ‘star’ players need to be cut a bit of slack once in a while.
Thanks for everything Pierre.
I’m strongly behind Mikel but Auba leaving in this manner has pissed me off.
Ahhh Auba, good luck brother. Sometimes a change of scene and a new challenge is what’s needed.
And now the amazing youngsters at the club have been given a clear vote of confidence in their abilities, so good luck to them too!
I think just need to put this one down due to a clash of personalities. In some spells we’ve played so well without Auba, in others we haven’t. But the team haven’t downed tools, which is a positive. Just no idea why we didn’t have a ready-made replacement lined up, knowing two months ago that this could have been a possibility. Poor planning.
Would you be happy to pay £25m for another 14 goals in the next 43 games? This is good business
See where you’re coming from, but we all know full well that Laca and Nketiah aren’t going to get 14 goals between them by the end of the season.
His goal scoring dropped off in recent seasons when the team struggled for creativity, but according to his goal scoring record – it could have been as many as 20 + goals in the last 43 games if he stayed. It’s all hypothetical now. Thank you Auba for the happy & fond memories. I only wish you could have been allowed a dignified end to your time with us 🙁 I am a bit sad…..
I really never thought it would come to this. I thought after afcon he’d be reintegrated and soon find some form again. Bit sad really.
Very glad he has a shot at winning things and enhancing his reputation at Barca, rather than wasting the rest of his career in Saudi Arabia
Arteta has shot us/himself in the foot here
He could be effective at CF in certain games, but it always seemed to me he was most consistent from the left wing. Provided he had the freedom to drift in and out of the striker position over the course of the game – which he clearly didn’t for a lot of his time on the wing under Arteta
Too high profile to be a bit part player. He would sulk and there’d just be so many nagging questions all the time. The bigger issue is not recruiting anyone.
I promised myself I wouldn’t get attached to any single player after RvP. But I’m genuinely sad about Auba leaving.
Seeing comments like that makes me sad. RvP was a piece of sh** who treated Aresenal as a medical healthcare. He had one good season and after that he f off to united.
Gutted.. thanks for the memories, especially that 2nd goal in the 4-2 win over the spuds 👌 I’ll miss him..
Prediction: a pretty mediocre six month spell and Barca decline the option to buy. So much for the savings!
He’s out of contract so it’s all savings.
Oh right. Contract was rescinded.
You’re right though. I predict he’ll do nothing at Barca and be dumped in the summer. Xavi is not all in on him. They basically got him for a massive discount because that’s all he’s worth right now. Good cover for them, nothing more. They even wanted morata more…
Savings are guaranteed. Auba is not an Arsenal player on loan, he was a free agent before joining Barca after his contract was terminated by mutual consent with Arsenal just before that. If the option is not drawn by Barca, he will be a free agent again in summer.
For me he’ll always be the player that if we’d got him in summer 2015 then Wenger might have won one more title…
I guess life isn’t that simple tho!
Ah if only!!! A man can dream!!!
Club got lucky managing to drop both Aubameyang + Willian
Hopefully they don’t make the same mistake with Lacazette, he’s a decent enough player, but he’s also the oldest 30yr old I’ve ever seen
I can’t believe the plan for this season was Willian 33, Aubameyang 32, Lacazette 30
Our squad planning sucks
Not that he’s slow or anything, but it might be an idea for Laca to travel up to Wolves now, get out on the pitch now and, by the time the other twenty one players take the field on Thursday week, he might just have caught up with them.
I really hope we get up and running again so those who love to moan about Arteta and his “falling out with” players can go crawl back under their rock. You want a winning mentality and a decisive manager but aren’t prepared to accept that those who won’t pull their weight will be exiled. Yes, Ozil and Auba are world class but it tends to be exceptionally gifted players that don’t think they need to put the hard work in so they’re likely to be the ones to go. No one on here really knows what happens behind close doors… Read more »
Considering we are left with the striking options of Lacazette (2 non-penalty goals) and Nketiah (0), and four midfielders including Xhaka and Elneny, I would argue Edu and Arteta aren’t “pulling their weight” either. The players will now definitely need to “run themselves to the ground for others,” seeing as we have moved all our bench options and replaced them with no one. I’m sure our team going back to the horseshoe because as soon as anybody’s out as they are all literally irreplaceable now will really instill that “winning mentality.” Nothing shows you want the team to compete like… Read more »
Would you rather we panic buy / pay over the odds and end up with a squad full of players who become dead weight? Look at the complaints we had about the squad a few windows ago, where we had players who were just not good enough. Is it ideal? No, of course not. We don’t have the depth we would like but consider the summer signings and how they’re progressing I don’t think we can criticise Edu. If the players aren’t available then they’re not available. You call it “sitting on our hands”Why would we start behaving like Utd,… Read more »
An upgrade on Nketiah is not an unreasonable ask.
Surely a competent Technical Director could have found someone on loan.
Besides if we don’t overpay now, we’re going to in the summer.
Every club is going to know that Arsenal has 0 strikers and is going to want a premium.
Besides, we’re going to need at least two strikers anyways, not to mention an upgrade on Granit Xhaka.
I would not be surprised to find that there is no real plan.
“Those who won’t pull their weight will be exiled.”
Just wondered if you’d care to share with us your thoughts on Willian and his perpetual first-name-on-the-team-sheet appearance record….?
Using Arteta as an example of a coach with winning mentality and decisiveness certainly is something. Are you aware he has a worse win-rate in the league than his predecessors? Was he not the same man who decided to keep AMN + Bellerin when we had offers and then proceeded to not play them after. Many on here might prefer to bury their heads in the sand but I believe the grievances some of us have with him are warranted. There are still many players not pulling their weight that are still here, so that can’t be the reason for… Read more »
Arrogant. That’s what Arteta and Edu are and a substantial sub set of the fan base. To think we can do without the depth. Neglect midfield at peril. This was a slow train wreck since last summer. The owners are disinterested but did not lack in spending. They’ve put down 72m for a mediocre Pepe and then 50m for White, the latter predictably at the expense of necessary upgrades in midfield. …just think we have a midfield of Xhaka (red card prone), Elneny (mediocre + away at AFCON), Partey (Only good with Xhaka) and Sambi (Green) Yet Arteta had assets… Read more »
Just because some fans have differing opinions from you does not justify your vitriol and insults. You do your opinions no justice with your attitude.
It was good while it lasted. After his attitude problems at Dortmund and Arsenal, you have to wonder how long before something similar happens with Barca.
Why you gotta go & throw facts at people like that? Don’t you know it’s 100% most definitely the managers fault he had attitude problems & for not indulging his lack of time keeping & not stroking his ego by letting him get away with things? Like it’s 100% most definitely Edu’s fault we didn’t sign anybody & not Stanley & Joshua’s for refusing to even consider spending this month while Stan charges $6,000 for a ticket to watch his NFL team in a Super Bowl in their own stadium
Had his day. Looks to have gone off the rails mentally which impacted his physical / skills ability. I wish him the best in Barca and I wouldn’t be upset with him if he were to return to his best. What is certain is that he would have continued to do less staying here. However, as a strategy for doing business. This is an abject failure from our commercial arm. We would’ve gotten €10m quicker than the time it would take to draw up a contract if we were to put him on the market. Maybe it is a psychological… Read more »
Good luck Auba. No way is Lacazette playing every game till the end of the season so its going to be interesting to see what we come up with. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that, although I don’t think this predicament was strictly necessary…
Both sides are better off this way. Best of luck captain!
Laca and Eddie will concentrate on a healthy battle for the starting gig.
We will be just fine.
Martinelli at CF. Laca behind him. Pepe out left. Eddie welded to the bench.
Farewell to him. Sad endi g, but he came under similar circumstances, so we got what we got.
In this transfer window I only regret us not getting Kulusevski, we will regret Tottshit getting him. I feel he will be wery well suited for PL, very versatile. And we could have made into striker.
Over to you Eddie – it’s now or never.
Heh. Ozzie’s dream.
Oh well.
When we miss out on top four and our so-called rivals are humming the Champions League theme from their close season sunbirds, at least some of you out there throwing cartwheels over the ‘wages we’ve saved’ will be content….
Fair point – although I would agree with the ‘don’t panic buy’ principle. That said however, certain questions really do beg, given that midfield and strikers are not a new problem: Eddie has been ‘unsettled’ for some time – likewise the Auba issues, his and Laca’s age, Xhaka’s lunacy tendencies, etc. And yet Tammy wanted Arsenal and was a savvy 32m (he is smashing ’em in for Maureen now – ugh!) Edouard was just 19m and surely a better option than Eddie?? and why not welcome HFB back for just 1m (he’s also been banging ’em in for Milan and… Read more »
Giroud should never have been sold in the first place. He and Auba would have worked well together. Giroud, an old fashioned centre forward and relatively good in the air, Auba an out and out striker.
We need both a centre forward and a striker now, in addition two midfielders, a ball winner to replace Xhaka and a creative central midfielder to help share the load with Odegaard.
A lot still to be done.
OK, so Auba was knocking on a bit and his goal scoring had dropped off considerably. Yes, we will save on his bonkers wages, but it’s even more bonkers we didn’t get a single penny for him and we now are a player less – yet we keep the kamikazi naughty schoolboy Xhaka, the self-inflicted liability who lets his team mates down and collects more red cards for Arsenal than scores goals. Bonkers.
If Arsenal fail to qualify for Champions league then Arteta should be sacked. It happened with Ozil, Guendozi and now Auba. Our people said that if one goes to Eke market and fight, goes to Oye market and fight, goes to Nkwor market and fight, then we have to ask, is he looking for the problem of the people in the market or the people in the market are looking for his problem?