According to several sources Arsenal are offering Aubameyang to clubs.
It’s yet another January where the priority seems to be slashing the wage bill, bearing in mind that Lacazette and Nketiah are free agents this summer.
I have often questioned the ambition of the Kroenke Family, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect their business acumen.
To have a company not meeting their targets while saving money and having customers think progress is being made, takes some doing.
That’s why they hired Arteta.
Any big-name manager wouldn’t tolerate every winter window the focus being on cost cutting, yet a rookie boss will tolerate his employers’ limitations for the sake of having a high paid job.
This time last year we essentially paid Ozil to rip up his contract having spent months trying to force him to leave.
That was despite our manager being adamant that the German’s attitude in training was not an issue.
The Gunners never replaced his creativity and went on to fail to qualify for Europe for the first time in 25 years.
Our owners had managed the feat of making money while the team failed, yet got a section of our fanbase to think this was a good thing.
Well, things change yet stay the same.
Auba is like Ozil in that he’s a talent over 30 who we have paid over the odds to stay. Nobody forced his employers to offer the salary they did, but like with Ozil, they seem to regret doing so and now want to make him as miserable as possible in a bid to make him quit.
No one at the club has confirmed what our ex-skipper did wrong, but it’s bad enough not to be included in our last 6 squads.
In comparison Lukaku was dropped for one game for publicly disrespecting Chelsea, a situation the Blues fixed within days.
Apparently if you’re a Gooner, you’re just meant to accept talents being discarded without explanation?
It seems okay to wash your hands of talent if it means saving money.
Our coach it seems, who’s strength is meant to be his 1 on 1 teaching, isn’t expected to get the best out of the resources available to him.
We are going to sell Auba on the cheap without any clarification, and are just meant to not question it.
And guess what? Some fans will not question it!
It’s genius work from Stan and Josh to, instead of trying to give us the best possible chance of finishing 4th, again the priority is their overheads, and yet you got your customers believing everything is okay.
Why do I sense that when we fail to qualify for the Champions League, we will have a summer of being told how good these youngsters could be?
Instead imagine how much better we could be if Arteta worked with his main striker on the training pitch, or used man management techniques to get him confident.
Isn’t that the Spaniard’s job?
If our former skipper has committed a sin which makes his position in North London untenable then tell us.
If not, then I have to assume this is the club choosing to prioritize finances over what’s best for on the pitch.
What have we seen in the last few weeks to suggest we will be better without Auba?
Eddie was brought on for him at Old Trafford when we needed a goal and did nothing.
Auba was on the bench at Goodison, and we lost.
We beat Saints and West Ham at home and Leeds and Norwich away, and that’s enough to convince some we are good enough to wash our hands of Aubameyang?
That’s not to say Auba shouldn’t have been dropped.
It was noticeable that his work rate wasn’t good enough, and that for whatever reason he’s lost his smile.
Yet Laca and Eddie have 2 League goals from open play combined this season (both for Lacca) and both are free agents in the summer.
So there’s room for a happy Aubameyang. Surely that can only increase our chances of success this season.
It seems Arsenal are either unable or unwilling to make that happen.
Until they tell us what disciplinary policies that have been broken, we have to assume it’s the second one.
If a lack of firepower is the reason that we don’t finish in the top 4, and we are getting rid of our main striker just to save a few pennies, then we got every right to question that.
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Dan
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