One problem that Arsenal needs to solve as soon as possible is the future of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabon captain is set to enter the final year of his Arsenal deal at the end of this month and the club is struggling to tie him down to a new deal.
Arsenal has been in this position before with the likes of Aaron Ramsey eventually leaving the club on a free transfer.
However, the Gunners are unlikely to want that to continue and they will want to prevent that with Aubameyang which has fueled the speculation that they might sell Auba this summer.
Former Arsenal legend Martin Keown has given his opinion on how Arsenal should handle the situation with their captain.
The former Arsenal star claimed that Mikel Arteta needs to follow the lead of Southampton whose manager has told their club captain and contract rebel, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg that he would be stripped of the club’s captaincy if he doesn’t commit his future to them.
‘It’s a real concern for Arsenal, recently with [Mesut] Ozil, they lost [Aaron] Ramsey, they lost [Alexis] Sanchez,’ Keown told talkSPORT as quoted by Metro Sport.
‘First of all I like the core beliefs of Hasenhuttl, you can hear what he’s saying about Hojbjerg and I think that’s where it needs to come from Arteta.
‘We’re hearing now that, unlike [Unai] Emery who wasn’t involved apparently in the Ramsey situation, him leaving, he’s getting involved.
‘I think the message needs to be to the player ‘look, we can’t have you captaining the club if there’s uncertainty around your contract’, in the last year of his contract, that can’t be allowed to happen.’
