Various reports this evening suggest that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will join Barcelona on a free transfer from Arsenal this evening.
The 32 year old hasn’t played since December 6th, and has been sidelined due to what was called his ‘latest disciplinary breach’ after arriving back late from a trip to France.
The striker was in Barcelona today, but it appeared as if talks had broken down over money. Now, after some kind of breakthrough, it seems his Arsenal career will be finished, and he’ll join the Catalan giants without the Gunners receiving a fee.
However, it does free up the £300,000 a week wages he’s on and would have been on until June 2023.
At this point it doesn’t look as if there will be any arrivals, so we have to hope others will step up in his continued absence.
Official confirmation to follow.
helikopter helikopter – we wont sign anyone this January 🙁
Can’t work out what I understand less. This comment or Dele Alli being worth £40m.
Think the £40m thing is because BBC love Sp*rs. Alli is free to start, £10m if he plays 20 games, etc to you presume £40m if Everton raise the world cup.
Bit annoyed. Selling a liverpool based club a player that had promise but waned significantly for a mad price was our thing
Maddness! A proven goalscorer with 1,5 year left on his contract not commanding 1 pound in transfer fee?
I’ve said this when the Ozil situation came through, we simply don’t know how to keep a good image of the players we want to sell. We start leaking bad things to the press to justify their absence, start saying that the player does not behave well…
Hey I have a car, it doesnt start, it smells bad, I don’t want it anymore and prefer to walk on foot instead of using it, wanna buy?
Disciplining in a public manner costs us big money.
I must be the only one who is happy enough to get a big wage off the bill from a player who is most likely going to sulk his way through the remainder of the season. We can all discuss how much effectiveness Auba would have had for the next four months and I would have been welcome to him staying. But I’m also dying to see Martinelli up front with ESR out on the left. I’ll be honest, my expectations are very much managed as regards the Champions League this season. I think we needed a few transfers to… Read more »
I’m on the same page it had to get done so we can move on. We’ve a much better chance of getting a striker and midfielder in the summer, think we went strong for Vlah but Alas we failed.
Getting a soon-to-be 33 year old with a dodgy ticker and a dodgier attitude off the bill and saving ourselves £20m in wages is fine by me.
It’s the fact we haven’t signed anyone that’s the problem.
Is it time to push the Diego Costa panic loan button yet 🤔🤔
Please no!
He is a free agent so wouldn’t be a loan signing.
It also means that it could still happen post window since free agents can be registered later…
We’ve got Lacazette and Nketiah until the end of the season.
Then we will only have Martinelli and Balogun….
”We’ve got spam spam spam and spam. Spam spam spam spam. Spam spam 🎶 Spam! Wonderful spam…”
I completely agree. It’s not like Arteta wasn’t playing him 90 minutes game in game out, often to our detriment. Anybody can see we’re generally better without him on the field, he can’t link up play, mediocre in the air, mediocre dribbler, easily muscled off the ball. On top of that, he was missing chance after chance. He’s a great poacher, awesome on the counter attack, still very fast. Theoretically he’d do best on a Leicester or Spurs type team, not this current Arsenal side. And again…it’s not like Arteta didn’t play the shit out of him. He had more… Read more »
Slightly harsh – he would only have been sulking because he was dropped from the squad
That’s the thing, ultimately this disciplining doesn’t really discipline anyone? Its just pissing in your own strawberries and then complaining when they end up tasting of piss.. If people genuinely believe that all of a sudden players will start doing exactly as Arteta says now because of the way he’s handled Aubameyang for being late a few times is hugely mistaken. It wont make a damn bit of difference. Let’s also not gloss over the hugely contradictory position Arteta has taken, basically hammering Aubameyang in the manner he has done, when you’re also handing out contract renewals to Granit Xhaka… Read more »
Feel like im quite fortunate in life that ive never had a piss flavoured strawberry before’ plentu that were jot ripe and lacked taste, but no, never piss flavoured
I think you’re being over simplistic. Clearly there is something more to it with Auba than there is with Xhaka.
When it happened initially, people generally agreed that it was the player at fault. However it has now happened too often to be a coincidence. Arteta’s management strategy doesn’t bring out the best in the players and is obviously losing the club money. See how many players have left on a free or had their contracts cancelled recently. It doesn’t tell good on the club at all. And going into the rest of the season with a bunch of senior players only, it’s obvious that burnout will definitely be an issue, what with an international competition later in the year.… Read more »
Disciplining in a public manner also sends a message about what Arsenal stands for. Not doing this would lead to poor ego management and the occasional Greenwood type situation. I’m glad we have him off our wage bill. Every transfer and salary decision is a risk, and some don’t pay off
It doesn’t? Because if it was the case then Aubameyang wouldn’t have left.. disciplining players in public never ever works.
It won’t make a damn bit of difference.
Players have control nowadays, coaches just have the illusion of it.
Arteta has no experience in managing players, and it is showing.
1. Refused to give Saliba a chance, but paid £50m for a player for whom the jury is still out.
2. Went for the overkill in handling Guendouzi.
3. Now Aubameyang is tossed aside with the viciousness of a dictator!
Comical to the 10th power using a player, Saliba, who just admitted Arteta handled him correctly as your example of Arteta not handling players correctly. The anti Arsenal/Arteta “fans” have the best example of their bias and inability to perform basic functional reason on full display in this post. PS the team played substantially better without Auba, Guendouzi spoke like and acted like a twat, a piss poor representative of a club filled with integrity….except for some fans….or trolls? Every manager Wenger, Emery and Arteta have been class acts and good to great man managers in their own ways. No… Read more »
Xhaka also acted like a twat consistently. We have the most red cards in EPL history. Guendouzi is too big a character for his young age in Arteta’s books. Just doesn’t fit the manager’s model for youth character I guess. But let’s not pretend we are too good for Guendouzi etc etc.
I believe pep is doing the same thing with success. Zlatan was treated the same way. This type of coach demands full commitment to make the system work. I think there is probably a lot of pep in artetas management style
Similarities to Pep means f*ck all if results are not forthcoming. Arteta can shave his head bald and I couldn’t care less, what’s important is we make top 4 and after this January window I am less confident we will.
You forgot the Ozil witch hunt and the Willian love-in.
I said this well over a year ago and Blogs nearly didn’t have a site left with the downvotes crash.
Ho hum.
Yeah I remember that Q. I guess, the difference was that Guendouzi and Özil the first fallouts. 18 months later, we now we have a more clearer picture about the kind of “manager” Arteta is and evidently more of us are fed up. The funniest thing I’ve seen said about Özil was when another user of this site recently said that Özil is reviled at Fenerbahce. Özil has played 23 games out of a possible 25. He has 8G, 2A and he’s captained Fener in 12 matches. I have a Turkish friend who is a Fenerbahce supporter that has been… Read more »
Yep – funny old game isn’t it? As I have stated elsewhere, I am currently only too pleased to be giving Arteta the benefit of the doubt because anyone can see that this young side clearly have the potential to become something special. The trouble is (and I’m not expecting perfection overnight) is that for every two steps we take forward, we invariably endeavour to then take another three back. I get that Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that, but the irony of now seeing people pull Arteta up for things that I highlighted a long time… Read more »
He’s still a bollocks though
Hmmmmm. Or is it the mad wage we’ve given them that noone else will match, let alone pay a transfer fee???
See Real not being able to shift Bale, Juve subsidising Ramsey, Barca not moving Dembele…
You calculate that he commands no money. I think you are wrong. What team wood pay same wages for fading 32 year with attitude? I recon maybe someone would risk 100K/w so Auba would request to be compensated for difference. What was his wage at Arsenal? 300K/w? So difference would be about 10 mil per year, total of about 15 mil, thats his price.
I wish I could say anything else other than I am not surprised. Genuinely do not understand how anyone rates any of the stuff going on at Arsenal at the moment. The only reason we are in a top 4 race this season is solely down to variance in the league and two absolute gems from our academy. That’s it. Our owners, exec committee and manager, have sanctioned selling our best goal scorer without any contingency plans in place whilst we are in the midst of a top 4 race with our only genuine rivals being Spurs and West Ham.… Read more »
Take it easy, Bro. It’s not the end of the world.
Irony must be dead. Aston Villa spent over 90m pounds on Bertrand Traore, Emi Buendia & Leon Bailey who combined have amassed 3 Premier League goals and 5 assists. This is what we’re called smartly run now? I’m sure we’d all love it if players like Danny Ings and 36-yr old Ashley Young were linked with us. And we’re complementing Wolves now are we? Hilarious. Our fanbase went half mad over the super agents issue, if Arsenal operated anything like Wolves who have super agents embedded into the fabric of the club, our fanbase would lose it. We can be… Read more »
I look forward to reading this after the performances away at Villa and Wolves.
So do I – if only to point out your negative, death-wish toxicity.
IamaGoober… youareadisloyaldrainontheclubyou’purport’
Some think that Auston Trusty is a good signing despite the fact that no one had ever heard of him before tonight…
Most on here still believe we are a shoe in for top four with a light weight squad that is carried by two players…
I know who is in a better position Arsenal or Aubameyang…
My youngest daughter has duly informed me that Trusty was a bloodhound in ‘Lady and the Tramp.’
All jokes aside, he’d better be good or that surname will be a tabloid’s dream.
When I first read it, I thought if was a Guardian satire on the Rumour Mill!
🤣👍🍺
The squad is plenty big enough to cope with the final 17 games of this season.
Shame we didn’t sign anyone meaningful for the run in, but glad we didn’t panic buy.
Given how well the recruitment went last summer and a dramatically lower wage burden, I’m confident this summer will go well!
Yeah but he’s not our best goal scorer. Far from it. Last 2 years have been dreadful and he’s a dressing room-wrecking prima Donna not fit to be captain of Arsenal! So all your other gibberish is exactly that…gibberish!
We’re giving away our best striker for free because the mangers fallen out with him! World class management!
“Our best striker” has 14 goals and 4 assists in his last 43 EPL games. That might be ok if he provided ANYTHING in build up play. But that 14 goals and 4 assists is about as empty as it gets.
And who is better? Laca? Nketia? I think not.
Overall Laca fits this team much better.
Uhm yeah, Laca is better. Have you not been watching last 12 months?!
Laca by far in terms of the team.
City aren’t exactly struggling without a striker, are they?! Football’s moved on and Auba was fun, but only a burden going forward, so pleased this hasn’t dragged on.
We’re MILES off city mate, everywhere else on the pitch maybe barring defense. Stupid comparison.
No one suggested we were similar in quality to City?
Except that there most recent form against us was to get utterly outplayed and have to buy a Red off the lunatic and then burgle a last minute winner?
Few teams tested Citeh more than us in the recent match, mate!
ESR!!!
Let’s keep an eye on him at Barcelona and see how he does….and likewise let’s how we do in the race for top four. That should provide some good evidence on the origins of Auba’s poor form.
I won’t be keeping any eyes on barca. Couldn’t give a fk what they do.
Who has a better rate than him in the squad? We are in dire need of goals and have looked bereft of goal threat in the whole month of January.
World class primadonna striker earns 300k/wk for fuck all and can’t be bothered turning up to training on time you mean….
Make that 350k p/w
More madness is not replacing him. The Burnley match and that bench shocked everyone. Well a couple of injuries and that bench will become all to familiar.
Relying on Laca and Eddie, I’ll be delighted when we are safe. The top four chance is a couple of injuries away from disaster.
Heh. We are NOT going to reach top 4 with what we have.
Because we’ve got this far this season due to the departed players? They’ve barely played and when they have played we’ve groaned…a lot!
17 games, we can do this!
That’s what happens when you massively overpay 30+ yo players. And to think we have direct recent experience with it and then did it anyway!
For me the greatest player I’ve seen stroke a ball around was Denis Bergkamp and he was only offered 1 year contracts so hopefully that’s the end of it.
High wage, out of our first team, old.
We don’t have much leverage and other clubs know it.
He hasn’t been a proven goalscorer since he got his bumper new contract and this year in particular he has been dire. Plus because we were stupid enough to give him such a huge salary we were never going to be able to sell him because no one can afford that wage bill. Even if it had not have been now he would have been gone in the summer and on current form that would have been 4 more goals. It is a shame it happened like this but it’s similar to what happened at Dortmund. He lost interest, form… Read more »
Similar to what happened at Dortmund you mean aside from the fact they still got a decent fee…
He was 4 years younger and had scored 13 league goals in the first half of the season. 31 and 25 the two seasons prior.
He’s scored 4 this season so far and managed 10 last season. His wages are some of the highest in the world. Much harder to sell.
Yes, the difficulty is that only a regular goalscorer attracts a big transfer fee and why would you want to sell one of those? We’ve moaned before at losing Anelka, Henry, RVP but I can’t see this departure being a concern especially as he’s gone abroad.
This is a good result. £350k off wage bill is big money! Rebalanced squad income is good. All our fantastic young players not having a party boy as their role model is a relief!
Love you Auba, glad it’s worked our well for everyone involved.
You win the prize for the most sensible comment.
The alternative was to let him rot on the bench for 18 months paying his wages and being a bad influence. He would never leave during that time unless it was to a top Champion’s League club. It’s decisive transfer management by Edu and co and has put us in a much better financial position to replace him in the summer.
And let’s celebrate the good times with Auba – at his best he was wonderful and helped us win an FA Cup. It’s a great move for him as well.
Don’t be silly. This deal is worth almost £30m to us. Everyone knew he was finished here, and it’s kind of amazing that they’ve gotten out of it without owing him more.
The guy is 32 (and nearer 33 than 31), and has been pretty awful the whole season. He could well be done. And everyone knew the club wanted no more to do with him. Getting out of his albatross of his contract without paying him another penny is very good business.
Personally I think they’ve pulled off a master stroke getting rid of his wages, top four or not he wouldn’t have been playing. Much better chance of replacing in the summer when all options are available.
Kroenke’s gonna have a case for breach of fiduciary duty against Edu. This is absurd.
What do you think they are smoking over there at the Emirates?
11 players in the squad if there was one more week of window
But hey, least Stan gets to line his pockets more by his NFL team making the Super Bowl…in their own stadium! Absolute joke that we’ve gotta trust 20 players, 3 of whom(Laca/Eddie/Mo) definitely won’t be here beyond June, to play & not pick up injuries
They’ll get Isak or some stopgap. Doesn’t make everything all right, but they’re not lunatics.
Business as usual at the Arsenal…
Yep it’s great to see us getting back to good being the norm. Arsenal’s colonic continues!
Look at Sp*rs’ shenanigans, their tech dir ended up throwing cash at his contacts for dross straight out of the Raul playbook.
…while Spurs reportedly get 40 million quid for Deli Alley. The financial mismanagement of Arsenal Football Club breaks every record.
I think that’s 40m with add ons.
I think the add one are pretty much unachievable given that i) Deli Ali is shite ii) Everton are also shite
He was free. The “40m” is all add ons, most of which he’s not likely to achieve.
It’s more than we’ll get for Auba any anyway you cut it.
It is truly amazing how quickly he fell out of favor at Arsenal and now is seemingly gone on a free transfer. I guess it’s better than keeping him and paying him the enormous wages to not be on the team, but still ridiculous that we can’t get a pound for him.
It’s truly amazing how quickly his form fell when he got his new contract, with that enormous salary we would never be able to sell him. Edu has done quite well to offload him and his toxic attitude to be fair, and I’m sure the lesson has been learned, no more huge contracts to players in their 30s.
An honest question…how do you know his attitude was toxic ?
I haven’t heard any specific examples of him causing trouble and his dip in firm could genuinely be down to Malaria or Covid effects
They don’t… it’s just backward reasoning. A presumption that if the club does it, it must be thought out. Anyone who believes that doesn’t have much experience with this club .
They don’t. It’s just a repeated narrative to justify weird decision-making. Ironically, almost every Arsenal exile is called toxic except the raven-haired elephant in the room they all fell out with.
In our daily lives, a person who has this many disagreements is usually seen as the source OF toxicity, not the other way round.
Ah yes, the “toxic attitude” that came out of the blue after the trip to France.
There’d been no hint of it beforehand and he wasn’t allowed to train with the team afterwards. Phew, good thing they offloaded him! He did do that thing, after all. You know, the non-specific thing Arteta acolytes think Auba must have done for the treatment by Him to make sense?
Did you ever stop to consider that if our manager is constantly falling out with players, the “toxic attitude” may be his?
How many managers has Auba fallen out with across his long career? How many players has Arteta fallen out with in his brief management career?
Not that quickly really he’s not been pulling his weight for at least a year.
With such massive wages free, I wonder if they feel more emboldened to pay Isak’s release clause now.
75m for a player who has scored 4 goals is crazy. He is very unlikely to meaningfully contribute anyways given the typical learning curve in the PL
If he’s injured he’s ours
I hope our scouting team is more nuanced than that.
Hey we gave away a guy who’s scored 400 goals for free, why not the other crazy thing?
We really do have to do better in this department – especially when you consider a lot of the players we are giving away at this point are ones Arteta/Edu signed. It’s not like we’re simply shipping out players they didn’t want when they arrived. At some point it’s going to become problematic they we have gotten little to no fees for virtually any players that Areta/Edu move on.
He wasn’t going to score many more, and the opportunity cost would have been £25m.
Think about it as, would you rather have £25m (saved wages) or end of career Auba?
Depends on of the outcome of the season.
If we miss out on CL because we don’t score enough, Arteta should be fired.
Somehow I doubt Barcelona will be in for him.
Sad to see it end like this. Mad that we’re not asking for a fee or seemingly signing a replacement. Glad the latest saga is over.
I guess the bright side is that we’re getting better at ending sagas faster?
Maybe our contracts are better suited
What a waste. He has 1.5 years left and can produce at least 10 goals a season, worst case. That’s at least worth a few million.
£25m saved! Why do people forget about the cost of wages?
Barcelona are mental
No they’re not. They have a great striker as you will see for the rest of the season.
Barca are genius for making such shrewd signings.
That’s why they’re in such a sound financial position?!
They probably have him for 100k a week
Very much doubt Auba would take that type of cut! This is a fucking weird one, we have all seen players get their contract terminated on mutual agreement (lack of funds, players not good enough on big contracts etc.) or because of gross misconduct. But this here, ik scratching my head as wtf went on behind closed doors.
Saves us paying him 20-25 million to sit out his contract, i had to add.
Possibly some questionable accounting going on at Barca.
If you take the emotion out of this, this is a great move to be able to pull off. Huge saving in Auba’s salary for the next three years. But it sucks. I remember Auba literally carrying us on his back for the longest time. What a shame.
*1.5 years
It’s a fine move if you bring in someone else, even on loan. If not, it’s irresponsible at best.
Doesn’t look like anyone is coming in. Shame we didn’t try te get Mauro Icardi in on a loan. Think he can do a job for us. And we haven’t been linked with any midfielders.
A great move? We’re surrendering after admitting defeat. This is a huge blunder. No striker to replace him, and we need two strikers over the summer. Bye bye top four and with that any opportunity of getting one, let alone two, top strikers in this summer.
I don’t think we’re actually seeking 4th spot ( perhaps saves embarrassment in CL) . The surprise is the young players we’ve loaned out when they could get the chance to prove themselves up to the season end.
Well said.
Not so long ago, we were being taunted as a one-man-team.
And, to be honest, they had a point.
He is 32 and on very high wages, so it’s to he expected we wouldn’t get much of a fee
If we wanted to cash out on Auba, we would’ve needed to sell him in summer 2020 when he was 30 and on reasonable wages. Ever since we offered him the new deal, it was inevitable we wouldn’t recoup any serious money for him
Any money > no money
Turkish Lira
Rupees
Or nothing as always
Imagine this thread after selling Auba 1-2 years ago…for any price. That manager would have been tarred and feathered. This avoided an Ozil. No player makes a club but managers can create functional winning organizations. Player and squad decisions are tough as hell and opinions unreasonable as hell. We made a great “through pass” for a seemingly exceptional forward and he chose to take Juve. Not every great pass produces a goal but we must keep trying
Agreed. The only reason he was offered such high wages at the time was that it was ostensibly the only way to convince him to stay when his last contract was being negotiated – despite knowing that such a deal effectively hamstrings us no matter what happened. At the time he was arguably our most important figure in the squad – given where we were and what he represented to us, there would have been uproar, mayhem if he had been allowed to leave without a suitable replacement in both goals and stature. The problem was that we hadn’t found… Read more »
Yeah I agree. We shouldn’t forget that Auba carried the team for a while, and was a star who raised the profile of the club. There were huge upsides But when you sign a 28 year old, then extend his contract on huge wages two years later, the inevitable downside is losing him for little or no value For me the issue is the timing – that we clearly hadn’t planned to lose him now, and weren’t able to replace him in January. If he had a good season then left on a free in the summer, everything would’ve worked… Read more »
Mikel, you know Isak-tly what to do with those savings…
75 mill for a player with Isak-tly 4 goals all season is nuts.
Exactly. People hear a name and get desperate for it… then they turn out to contribute F-all (Pepe for example).
Being released on a free is just a reflection of how absurdly high his wages are. Barca aren’t gonna pay 350,000 per week (27.3 millions over 18 months) and pay Arsenal a fee. Auba isn’t gonna move unless he gets 350 or at least something close to that. If he was on 200,000 p/w, we’d be getting some money but we made our bed and now we have to sleep in it.
I think Barca in their own way are breaking the pattern of very high wages that are not sustainable to any club. Also they are a massive club but are in an absolute mess.
Hence taking a chance on a free transfer – he’ll probably move on in summer if it doesn’t work.
Barca is an absolute mess, but their ownership model stands them in good stead for the future. We are utter shambles on and off the pitch, owned by Americans who treat the club like a franchise and fans as customers.
I’ll hold judgment for a while we can see that monumental change have gone on in the last 18months which requires painful decisions top to bottom at the club. We have the makings of a very good side already and the final push to fill out the spots we needed couldn’t have happened with Auba on the contract he was on.
If it’s not working for either side, then best of luck to him. That said we simply cannot keep panic signing players in their 30s to massive contracts. This also is going to be very challenging as this is a year where the top 4 is very much in our reach due to how poorly others around us are performing. Sans Auba we simply do not have a player who we can count on for goals at the forward position. And yes he hit a slump, but he’s very consistently scored over the years.
Experience is critical to trophies. We did not overpay for a proven goalscorer, dropoff notwithstanding. Ozil was probably an overpay (as was Walcott btw)
Odds are against us but we have a young team and manager that believe they have something to prove. COYG
The falling out must’ve been worse than anyone imagined. If there’s a silver lining it’s that we should be situated to do 2 big deals in the summer. God knows we’ll have the space in the squad and presumably the wages. We’re boxed in now though, if we bring in uninspiring players in the summer we’ll all be fuming. It better be Isak/Barella or something on that level otherwise what are we even doing.
I genuinely feel sad that it’s ended like this, even though I wanted him gone because of his form over the last 18 months.
Whatever’s happened, I hope he’s happy and playing with a smile on his face again
Sad how him and Ozil left the club. Both could have been club legends. Instead both get absurd contracts, put in half ar$ed effort, play rubbish and act out leave in farcical circumstances.
Edu: Note to self, Let’s not do that again.
Tbh I wouldn’t question Auba’s effort. I’d say his quality offensively just hasn’t been good enough, especially for what he’s earning and compared to what we’ve seen before
That’s fair he ran around a fair bit this season (his ineffective one-man pressing efforts). But effort is getting the Fk up too and going to work on time. Particularly when you’re paid more in a week than many make in 10 years.
Given the situation at Arsenal, its the right move.
But who’s happier than Auba and Barcelona right now. The best striker on loan or free transfter for anyone but us. Auba must be estatic. He’ll score for Baca, no doubt.
Would you want him starting the last game of the season when we need a win to qualify for top four when you know
A) he’s lost that cutting edge / clinical finishing
B) He’s missed some sitters
So to everyone thinking we shouldn’t let him leave for free…would you really risk playing him based on his form this and last season?
Who would you prefer then? Laca who averages less than 1/2 of Auba’s goals per year? Eddie who scores at a far lower rate than Laca? We aren’t blessed with a lot of options, & Auba over the years has very consistently scored no matter where he has been – including for us.
He’s scored 4 goals for us. Nor exactly stellar form.
Laca, because he puts in a shift and brings his teammates into the game. Auba became a player who couldn’t even score anymore and through which a massive fraction of our chances created would die with his big fat ZERO in build up.
Lacca puts in a shift his name would be in my team sheet first.
Puts in a shift but doesn’t actuality score. That’s a pretty big issue for a forward. That’s like saying mustafi works hard but just isn’t good at the defending part
If MA wants to play the Citeh way, we don’t use a CF but we do need midfield players to score lots more.
If other people score who cares. That’s the difference. Before the month of January we had something building with Laca bringing in others and goals coming from elsewhere and the odd goal from Laca. Sure we need an upgrade, but a straight choice between the two and it’s Laca by a country mile based on his season. Auba just doesn’t fit with this current team. He’s a luxury we cannot afford. And neither can Barca.
Not really, how coherent does our attack look when Laca can really link up with Saka and ESR. Add in Odegaard and you have a lot of creativity and guys who can all contribute and share the burden. We’ll get more out of Martinelli / ESR / Laca / Saka for the rest of the season than having Auba miss chance after chance with his current form for us. If he was still banging 15/20+ goals a season and on course for that this season I would understand the shock/anger but he’s not carrying himself let alone the team like… Read more »
Laca doesn’t actually play like a center forward however- he drops so deep that he’s almost another midfielder in a lot of ways. There likely are structural issues in terms of how we play in the sense that every single center forward has struggled under Artera – largely because we create so few chances for them. It’s really unlikely that we can sustain any sort of top 4 run when we count on virtually all of our goals coming from midfield/1 winger. That’s a major reason we have almost as many ties/losses as we have wins.
Aubameyang doesn’t play like a modern striker either. He rarely contests aerial duals, his link up play is so-so and hold up play is non-existent. He’s never really been consistently effective for us as a lone CF. He was most prolific for us on the left or in a pair, in front of a back 3 so he has little defensive responsibilities. But playing like that introduces too many other problems for our other players. It’s noticeable that all this was the case under Wenger and Emery as well, not just Arteta.
One of the big issues with Arteta is we don’t play to our players strengths. If he wanted someone to play like a modern center forward then why in the world did he hand him at 350k a week contract? It’s worth pointing out that we’re at the point that virtually all these players we are simply giving away are ones that Edu / Arteta chose. Our squad building leaves a lot to be desired.
At the time we handed him the contract, he was playing on the left. It’s easy to say that the contract was a mistake in hindsight, though a few people did object at the time. If we want to criticise Arteta and Edu for the contract, that’s fair enough. But Auba needs to take responsibility for getting more out of himself as a player (and as a professional).
Sorry mate, I normally find myself agreeing with every post you write, but this one is the one singular exception to the rule.
Putting in a shift should be a pre-match requisite for every player regardless.
Laca’s job is to score goals – three all season just isn’t good.
Putting in a shift is a bit ‘Putting pressure on’ – a bit of a Spursy excuse.
Not that I’m accusing you for one minute of being a Spud!! 😉👍🍺
Laca averages “less than 1/2 of Auba’s” goals per year”? Rewind to 2019 maybe you have a point. Not today though.
I would still have Auba rather than lightning Laca and our very own Eddie the Eagle.
If you don’t think we’re stronger for the last half of the season with Auba in the squad than not, you’re absolutely delusional. End of story even Arteta would agree or he wouldn’t have started him ahead of Nkethia for every single game ever possible until they fell out.
Auba like a party
The party’s moved to Spain
We are down a striker
Gooners going insane
Bonkers but sadly, makes some sense.
I was thinking the other day, surely if what he’s done is that bad, is it not breach of contract and, if so, surely the club has some protected rights?
What a disaster. Although I support Arteta and Edu, this is what happens when you give kids the keys to a McLaren. They smash it to pieces.
Hopefully this nightmare ends, and Arsenal have finally learned to go back to the old Wenger “no multi-year signings 30+ years old” (even though he broke his own rule, I know).
Oh captain, my captain…
(Arsenal’s captain cursed again)
It just feels a bit unfair that we’re still stuck with Xhaka. He played his part and propper knobbed off, I mean he’s still trying his best to show it. For some reason we just won’t accept his attempted resignations.
It SHOULD be Tierney.
But it’ll still be Laca.
Auba was great for Arsenal for two seasons when the team as a whole was absolute dogshit. For the better part of the last two seasons though he hasn’t been up to much, so if he wants to go and Barca can find some spare change in the filthy old couch on a back porch that is now their club, then I say it’s welcome news. Fare thee well Pierre!
Apparently the deal has fallen through – he turned up too late for the medical
It’s a pity you turned up so late with this comment. It warranted more views higher up the list!
This seems peevishness by Arteta. For what seems like a minor disciplinary issue we’re losing a leading goal scorer. It might make sense if they were signing another proven goal scorer, but that doesn’t look like it’s happening.
He’s not our leading goal scorer and it wasn’t a minor disciplinary issue. Next…
That’s the point.
There is, for the remainder of this season at least, no ‘next.’
When you think we couldn’t do worse, now this!
No time to sign another striker. Can we get top 4 with a striker who wants to be anywhere else except lead the line, and one who is evidently not up to the grade?
The Burnley game should have jolted Arteta and Edu to reality; but at this rate, it seems they saw it as an exception.
Fingers crossed. But they should know that one of the most fragile things on earth is the support of a fan base.
Things could get pretty toxic fast if results are poor.
Announce Jokic
You mean Nikola Jokic, since we’re turning to kroenke’s other franchises for talent now (Trusty from rapids). Nikola Jokic might be a bloody gem of a signing. Arteta would finally have his (7ft) target man for doughnut ball!
Trust the process… 🙄
Trusty the process.
Was a jolly happy soul, etc.
How in the fuck are we here
One almighty great explosion of gas.
Or, depending upon your point of view, some ancient old codger in the sky with a big fuck off white beard suddenly thought to himself “I know, I’ll create the heavens and the earth and then, on the seventh day, I’ll put my feet up, get a few cold ones out of the fridge and watch Spurs v Watford on a Super Sunday with Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane and Graeme Souness.”
I’m not having that particular existential melt down pal, but if the crux of your answer is “I don’t fucking know” then it’s oddly still appropriate!
Meltdown? 🤣
Lighten up mate, it was only a bit of banter. 👍😉
Right, I think you’ve interpreted the reply not as intended.
You jokingly gave an answer to the existential “why/how are we here” question. I just pointed out that the answer to that “no one really knows” is strangely applicable to the answer to “why is a team desperate for goals letting their talismanic striker go to Barcelona on a free” because I can’t imagine it’s just because he was late a few times.
Best case scenario for all concerned I think. The clear out just about complete (Cedric) thanks for the memory’s Auba but we move on.
I had made a (speculative) statement when he was disciplined in Dec that his head had been turned by Barca. A strong disciplinary action is not taken for taking a late flight.
Having said that, I get the feeling all this is posturing, perhaps a handshake agreement was already in place. (Again, complete speculation on my part).
I hope we sign someone to replace him, otherwise we have two strikers who don’t have any commitment to our long term cause. Get ready for a roller coaster ride for the rest of the season !
It will be mostly downhill
I like your speculation.
I have no issue with moving Auba on considering how things played out, but to let him leave without a plan is absolutely criminal. Did they decide just now to let him go? We are very very well placed to finish in the top four and what we needed this window was reinforcements to get us over the line, especially in an attacking sense! (I mean even a goal scoring winger to allow Gabi to play top or an attacking midfielder to allow Odegaard play deeper). The lads are awesome and I have no doubt they will give it there… Read more »
This is great business….for next year! I don’t care that we didn’t get a pound for him. Clearing all of his wages is immense.
Sadly, no replacement striker signed. That’s the real dumb part of this.
I’d take a loan for Theo Walcott at this point…
If no replacement comes in then it absolute madness. I back Arteta in his stance over Auba to a degree but not if no replacement is forthcoming. We could be costing ourselves any chance of top 4 if and when we get more injuries.
There was a breach.
He was disciplined.
No way back into the line up.
As hard a decision it mus have been, he’s out.
No player is bigger than The Arsenal.
How about the guy who threw the captain’s armband on the ground and swore at the fans?
Arsenal sure looks like Father Christmas at the moment.🙄
Yeah. Right out of presents.
All the Arteta fans… Who gave Auba the contract?
Arteta had been at the Club almost a year when he pushed for that massive contract.
You can’t have it both ways. Either Arteta made a huge error with offering the contract, or, is making a huge error now.
Thats way to see it hindsight. I think alot of pepole tought it was a good idea to give Auba i new contract. So my penny is it was not an error to give him a new contract and also not an error to let him go. Two god decision. He bad one not sign a replacment. But i will give judgment when the season ends and give benefit of doubt until then.
Just shows that our average manager who was an average player but has above average hair is incapable of err “managing” talented players with egos to get the best out of them ? Fully understand Auba hasn’t set the place alight since his bumper contract Surely though a proven scorer given away for free to Barca, with no replacement in sight, smacks of “Bojo” standards of incompetence ? Like has been mentioned on TV we just can’t be a club in transition forever Arteta & Edu have let us down sadly !
We used to have Class.
“I’m told Aubameyang will join Barcelona on a free transfer if this goes through, not a loan” – Charles Watts Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Carzola, Chambers, Mustafi, Sokratis, kolasinac, Mkhitaryan, Willian (Laca, Nketia to follow) all on free transfers. These free transfers praised by same people who criticised Wenger for “allowing” players enter last year of contract & selling them for millions. Time to remind those that hounded Wenger out that he sold 31 year old Giroud for £18m. Even Sanchez with only 6 months left was swapped for Mkhitaryan, so wasn’t a free transfer. Today, these same people celebrate free… Read more »
I’d glady take one more Free Transfer…and no prizes for guessing who!
We don’t know how to do business .. not buying or selling!! Lost Alexis for pretty much nothing, Gnabry, Ramsey, Auba then Laca and Nketiah.
Martinelli has got to be played up front hence forth, with Saka, Odegaard and ESR behind him. Pepe to run at a tired defence.
That said, if we all end up having to continue watching Lacazette ambling around like a 21st century Kevin Campbell and Eddie fluffing his lines from one yard out with an open goal, it won’t surprise me in the least.
Top four? I wouldn’t put your house on it…..
Lets hope that’s the last 300 + a week contract we hand out for a long time.
Arsenal fans are mental. Dont want Tomiyasu, Ramsdale etc etc, spend more spend more, we just broke the bank rebuilding the entire squad. Auba has been out of form and then the fans complain why he plays, now that he’s offloaded, they conplain why we didn’t keep him
. Honestly, it’s so stupid. Very spoilt
Come on mate, we’re not spoiled.
No title since 2004 and not a sniff since 2016….?
We are definitely not spoiled.
Agreed. We might not be supporters of Leyton Orient but I’ve never felt that Arsenal fans were spoiled. We’re still paying Champions League era prices for (many) tickets and merchandise despite our recent decline.
Now Chelsea and City fans are spoiled. Knowing the difficulties Gooners had getting to Baku, I felt jealous when I read that their club(s) helped many travelling fans with transport for their UCL final matchup. Their matchday costs are also generally cheaper too.
Nothing this ownership has done has been for the sole benefit of the fanbase. The crypto stunt was a reminder of that.
It’s almost like there are lots of Arsenal fans who have contrasting opinions on various topics to each other
Feels like Arteta has zero pressure compared to other managers
looking at it from a perspective of a supporter whose team is fighting for top 4 it is hugely disapointing and displays genuine lack of ambition. Not letting Auba go for free per se but not geting ANY kind of replacement for him, or geting anybody even on loan just to provide for squad depth when we’re fighting for champions league!? In addition we’ve sold Chambers and loaned out couple of youngsters that had been training with the first team. Being aware that fans do not run football clubs and having in mind what Blogs wrote about today in his… Read more »
Thanks for the goals, the Lacazette partnership and the FA Cup. Shame his legacy wasn’t what he hoped it would be in the end though. A surprise that Lacazette outlasted him as an Arsenal player, no one would have thought that 6 months ago.