Arsenal is currently negotiating a new deal with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after the striker entered the final year of his current deal with them.
He has been the club’s most important player since he joined them as his goals have been invaluable in different competitions.
The Gunners have been looking to get him on a new deal since last season, but progress has been slow as he also considers a number of interests from top European teams.
The Gunners remain confident that he will sign a new deal with them in the coming days, but the player has all the advantages at the moment and former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has urged the Gunners not to allow the former Borussia Dortmund man to hold them to ransom in the negotiations.
Keown told PA Sport via Mail Online: ‘[Mikel] Arteta has been there less than eight months and walked away with an FA Cup he is someone who can make a difference (to Aubameyang’s decision) and if he wants the striker at the football club he will be influential.
‘The previous manager, Unai Emery, was saying he wasn’t part of the negotiations for Aaron Ramsey.
‘Well this time round Arteta made it his place to be involved in the negotiations and that is only right and proper.
‘I don’t think they should be held to ransom as they appeared to be over the Mesut Ozil contract but on the pitch Aubameyang seems like a different person.
‘Just getting him to sign keeps a huge amount of belief and hope for the future – but not one individual is bigger than the football club as the Ozil saga has shown.’
Aubameyang is being eyed by a number of top teams including Barcelona and Inter Milan.
If the Gunners lose him, Mikel Arteta will have lost a major part of his rebuild and next season might be worse than we can imagine.
