Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has left Arsenal in one of the most unceremonial manners.
The striker joined Barcelona after being banished from the club’s first team, but Arsenal had to agree to tear up his current contract.
That makes it seem like he is no longer being paid by the club, but that might not exactly be the case.
The club agreed to a small compensation for the former Borussia Dortmund man, which helps them save over £20m in wages that they should have paid him until 2023.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein has now revealed that Arsenal is still paying him until the end of this season and suggests they may not have saved as much as the £25m that was reported.
He tells Sky Sports as quoted by The Sun:
“Arsenal are paying him in instalments until the summer, rather than a lump sum.
“That is very similar to what happened with Mesut Ozil when he left a couple of years ago and they split the wage with Fenerbahce.
“In this case, they are splitting the wage with Barcelona and Aubameyang’s taking a bit of a hit.
“And then from the summer onwards it will just be Barcelona.
“And Aubameyang will be on a lower overall wage than he was earning at Arsenal.
“So there were suggestions of £25m saved until the summer of 2023. It is a significant saving but not that much.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Even if we saved just £10m from tearing up Auba’s deal, it is still a whole lot of money.
We have to also consider that keeping him at the Emirates will attract unnecessarily negative press, which is damaging the club’s reputation.
We need to move on now and hope our current attacking options will fire the team to a favourable finish in this campaign before we splash the cash in the summer.
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