Arsenal have allowed players to run deep into their contracts once again, but does Alexandre Lacazette deserve the contract he is requesting?
Of course, his wage demands aren’t made public, but according to reports we are looking to tie the Frenchman down a 12-month extension, while he is holding out for a long-term deal.
The above makes perfect sense for both parties, but they can’t both get their current wish, and unfortunately it is the player who appears to have the power in negotiations, knowing he could simply leave for nothing in the summer.
The biggest problem for us at the moment is that Lacazette is our only experienced forward in the team. Aubameyang was there alongside earlier in the season, but he has since been dropped from the playing squad, stripped from his role as captain, and there is no telling how much of a role he will play again this term.
Laca has stepped up in his team-mates absence also, seeming to flourish amongst the young and exciting forwards in the squad, but has the new role as captain led to this resurgence in form and consistency, or is he simply playing for that new contract?
We’ve suffered financially after giving Mesut Ozil and now Auba after giving them new long-term deals, with drastic downturns in form on both counts, and coincidentally Laca will turn 31 years-old at the end of the season, the same age PEA was when he signed his latest contract.
It’s a really difficult one. We have a distinct lack of experienced players in the squad at present, with a clear preference for signing younger players in recent windows, and losing both Auba and Lacazette would lower the age of the playing squad somewhat.
It would be a risky decision to completely cut ties with our experienced duo, I think the time has come to take a chance.
We don’t want to be duped into another long-term deal for a player who will have little incentive to keep working to the best of his abilities. It almost seems as though Auba has joined Ozil in believing that he was more important than the club, almost acting as if the club owed him something.
The last thing we need is further disruption to the team, and I hope that the club sticks to their guns by offering a short extension to the former Lyon man, and not biting the bullet and giving him a new long-term deal as we did with Aubz…
Do you believe Laca’s focus on his contract could be spurring on his form?
Patrick
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