Signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to a new deal is a top priority mission for Arsenal this season.
The club captain has scored most of the goals that have kept them in the Premier League’s race for a European place this season.
But he will be out of contract next season and the Gunners are desperate to get him on a new deal.
There have been reports of talks having been held between the club and the player over a new contract and it has also been reported that the club has offered him a new deal already, so reported the Mail citing L’Equipe.
However, football expert, Julien Laurens claims that the recent report that he has been offered a new deal by Arsenal is incorrect because the club hasn’t started speaking to the player about the new deal at this time and that they are focused on being ready for the restart of the campaign, after which they would resume the contract talks.
“Well there was a bit of excitement I think on Monday from Arsenal fans because L’Equipe newspaper in France wrote that the club had offered Aubameyang a new deal,” Laurens said on the Gab and Juls podcast as reported by the Express.
“Unfortunately it was not the case in the sense that they haven’t properly started talking concrete talks about a new deal and what the future holds because of the pandemic, because they’re really focused right now on being as ready as possible for when the league resumes, which is fair. Then after that they will talk.
“It’s very clear it’s either he’s happy to sign a new deal and the club wants to keep him for longer, he’s 31 at the end of the month, so you have to be careful of what you do, you can’t give him a 10-year deal when he’s 31.
“But if he doesn’t want to sign a deal or you can’t find an agreement or anything like this, then you either sell him now and get a bit of money, maybe £20m-£25m, or you keep him and he runs down his contract and in the following summer in 2021 he goes for free.
“It’s a tricky situation and he’s not the only player by the way at Arsenal right now with just one year left on his contract.
“It’s a scenario that a lot of clubs have with some big players, or less big players, but it’s something they will have to sort out.
“I’m not even sure what the best solution is right now.”
£20-25m just keep him for the season if he won’t sign a new contract.
You would like to think that:
a) he would be worth more than that
b) it would be giving out the wrong signal to other players by allowing his contract to run down. £20-25m plus his £200,000pw salary is a big financial hit for just one year