Arsenal handed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a deserved big-money new deal at the start of this season hoping that his goals would help them return to the top four.
However, the goals have dried up since he signed the new deal and they are now seeing a similar situation to that of Mesut Ozil unfolding at the Emirates.
The striker scored 22 league goals in each of the last two seasons, but he has just 14 goals in 31 matches in all competitions so far.
For someone whom the club has relied on for goals and has built their team around, those numbers are simply unacceptable.
Alexandre Lacazette has scored 13 goals from the same number of games and is playing for a new deal at the moment.
His contract expires at the end of next season and Arsenal has to sell him or offer him a new deal when this campaign ends to avoid losing him for nothing.
Mirror Football says Arsenal is facing a dilemma over the future of the Frenchman as they look to cut costs.
The report says the Gunners will be unable to keep both strikers if they don’t earn a European place because they would need to make cuts and they have Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli coming through.
The idea that Arsenal should let either Lacazette or Aubameyang go is inane.
The idea that Eddie Nketiah, who has scored 4 league goals and played about 1,000 Premier League minutes in his career is an apt substitute is silly.
Gabriel Martinelli was showing immense promise before his massive injury. Relying on players coming off injury to lead your team to success is like hiring the guy who oversaw the Lehman Brothers collapse to manage your retirement accounts. Stupid.
It is so odd that the same people who want Arsenal to act like a big club suggest strategies that are embraced by mid-table clubs struggling to compete.
Top clubs are two-deep, at least, in every position. Especially center-forward. Perennial heavyweights Man City, Man U and Chelsea show this clearly.
Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus at Man City. Olivier Giroud, Timo Werner, and Tammy Abraham at Chelsea, Edinson Cavani and Anthony Martial at Manchester United.
The next set of clubs, Tottenham, Liverpool, and Leicester show what happens when you rely on one proven performer at that critical position. Harry Kane goes out with in jury or loses form; Tottenham cannot compete. Song is a good player, but he’s a winger and cannot do what Kane does.
It is no coincidence that Liverpool is struggling, just look at Firmino’s numbers. The Reds have no quality understudy. Salah and Mane scores goals, but from wide-forward or winger positions. Without Firmino firing on all cylinders, the Reds are flailing.
Leicester is ever-dependent on Vardy. Iheanacho is beginning to emerge, but as Vardy goes, so goes the Foxes. Improved defense and six goals from Iheanacho have helped Leicester stay in the top four thus far, but typically the Foxes yoyo up and down, in and out of the Champions League places. If Vardy goes before they find a quality replacement, Leicester will begin their inevitable decent into mid-table mediocrity.
Right now, Arsenal have a front line to be envied. The goal production of Aubameyang is not a result of poor performance, but a focus on defending, of playing out of the back by a team not yet accustomed to doing so, and a lack of a quality #10. Emile Smith-Rowe and/or Martin Odegaard may fill the role, but it is no surprise that Arsenal’s loss of creativity faded when Ozil was banished. There is a near total absence of proven passing quality in the center of Arsenal’s midfield… The answer to more goals lies there, not in selling center forwards.
Goals are the most expensive commodity in football, and selling a proven scorer to sign… who? Marcel Sabitzer is a player Arsenal could really use, but you do not sell 13 goals and 3 assists (scored and created as a part-time player) to sign 6 goals and 3 assists. Adding Sabitzer would be great, but only if it means adding six goals to the 20 league goals of Lacazette and Aubameyang, not in place of them.
Arsenal have quality center forwards and they have them two-deep, with two more quality reserves. Martinelli also plays out wide, giving Arsenal the potential to put out a front line as potent as any in the league.
This club is four players from challenging for the title. Dismantling it is stupid.
Arsenal need an upgrade on Leno at keeper, Chelsea’s Kepa would be worth a gamble. Nick Pope from Burnley would also challenge Leno’s spot. Sabitzer is the kind of goal-scoring central midfielder Arsenal need, with a return of Aaron Ramsey another option. A First XI #10 who scoress and provides assists is a definite need. Odegaard might be the one. Smith-Rowe has the creativity, but so far, not the goals. A reserve left back, someone who can step in and play the spot without such a massive drop off from Tierney would be the final piece of the puzzle if Arsenal do not do anything stupid.
Selling Lacazette, Bellerin, or Granit Xhaka would fall into the ‘yes, you’re an idiot’ category of stupid.
We have Eddie Nketien coming through? Oh my god.Is this the future.