The never-ending saga of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s contract situation is still far from resolved, but the longer it goes on without him signing, then the more it looks like he will not be an Arsenal player next season.
Ray Parlour, for one, certainly thinks that Arsenal are unlikely to keep him. ‘I think you’ve got to sell him if he doesn’t sign a contract, and then take the money and try to replace him,’ he told Friday’s talkSPORT Breakfast. ‘It’s really difficult to keep a player if he doesn’t want to stay.
‘It’s a big decision to make, but I don’t know what sort of money you could get for him if he doesn’t want to stay. If you get a good fee for him then you have to try and go out and replace him.
‘That is difficult, but it has happened at every single club when players come to the last year of their contract.
‘I’m praying that he wants to stay and Arsenal can sign him on a new contract and he can be there for the next two or three years under Arteta.
‘It all depends on the manager as well, if they get on, and also if he feels the club is going forward.
‘That is the big decision the club have got to make, but hopefully he stays.”
Without any sign of any new contract being agreed by now, I think we have to accept the inevitable, but at least we now know he won’t be joining our local rivals Chelsea, who have apparently agreed a deal to sign Timo Werner from RB Leipzig for 53m GBP, according to the Daily Mail.
Yes, Werner has an amazing record in the Bundesliga, but you just never know when players make the move to the Premier League, whereas if they had got Aubameyang the Gabonese hitman would definitely have hit the ground running. And also, maybe Chelsea’s move for Werner will give Auba one less option as his destination if he still intends to leave…
