Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has looked resurgent in this campaign and it is easy to forget how poor he was last season.
He had signed a new big-money deal at the start of that campaign, but couldn’t repay the faith shown in him.
He has looked like a man making up for lost time this season and it is not just his goals that he has added to his game.
The striker has also displayed some impressive leadership skills on and off the field for the Gunners.
He is now a delight to watch play, but that could be short-lived and he might not spend much more time at the club.
This is because his current deal expires at the end of next season.
It is understandable that no one is talking about it because we could be in a good position and allow him to walk for free in 2023.
However, what if he hits top form in the last season of his current deal at the club?
Would that justify giving him a new contract even though he would be 34 at the time?
Some players play beyond the expected age like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo have done so far.
Auba could remain lethal in front of the goal at the end of his Arsenal deal and give the club a dilemma. Would you choose to keep him at the Emirates if that happens?
In this day and age I think strikers should be given lower base deals and high bonus deals.
If you clear 20 goals in the prem we give you a extra however much but your base is like 100k or 150k a week.
All this big money without having to work for it is our downfall. Look at willian he should have only been paid for goals and assists. Not just collecting a huge salary
I would suspect, due to the inherent financial complexities of any potential transfer or reupping, he will likely leave on a free at the end of his term, much like Laca…as we know, he certainly isn’t a perfect match for our current manager’s tactical philosophy, so unless something drastically changes in the meantime, it would hardly make sense to have him remain in the fold…of course, as an ardent fan of Auba’s, throughout his career, it makes it infinitely more difficult to cut ties, but it would likely be the prudent decision…the perfect scenario would see us sell him for a tidy sum in the summer or in the subsequent winter window, then use those and other monies to secure a suitable and much younger replacement…that said, I doubt this will ever come to fruition in such a simple and believable fashion
Simple, go back to Wenger’s original policy of only offering one year extensions to players over 30 if they are still performing. If it was good enough for Bergkamp then its good enough for Auba.
My thoughts too
SueP I agree but the big wages with the likes of Auba and Ozil has to stop no player is worth £350 000 a week I don’t care who they are
In his entire senior career, Auba had one off season mainly due to sickness and personal issues which are behind him now. We need him, give him a rolling one year contract as long as he can deliver. It is an insult to Auba to have his name with Ozil in the same sentence and that too on the same line with just “and” seperating the grain from the chaff. Auba has justified very penny he has earned (last season being a one off exception) while Ozil has shown some remarkable progress in the farmers’ league and bettered his own stats having 2 goals and 2 assists in 18 apperances for Fener!
I like Auba don’t get me wrong but to honest he’s not in the league of CR7 and Zlatan Ibrahimovich.
Let’s let him run down his contract coz ain’t no team that’s gonna buy him at that age on that salary.
My worry is what plans are we making to eventually replace our superstar? Lacazette is leaving and even if he decides to stay he’ll be 31 next year which doesn’t solve our aging strikers problem.
Nketiah ain’t good enough to be no.1 or no.2 for that matter plus seems to be leaving unless he pulls a Balogun and signs a new contract, after which we will probably loan him out to increase market value and eventually sell.
Balogun needs competitive loan spells like we did with Nketiah and are doing with Saliba (in my books Guedounzi is no longer an Arsenal player).
Martinelli is a potential left-sided goal scoring winger so let’s cut this he’s a striker talk. He’s more a Raheem Sterling if you get my thinking.
So in a nutshell, we need 2 young strikers capable of starting games to replace Auba and Lacca. We need to revamp our attack like we did our defence.
We have seen the best of him. He can’t be our main pivot in front line, nor can he be a major goal threat in set-pieces like Giroud
Even the more productive and legendary Aguero was released by Man City. We’d better gamble on a new CF
On no conditions….he’s already signed on too long currently.
Too many think its disloyal to say a great player should move on.
A delight to watch!!!! In a parallel universe … the fact of the matter is his work rate is low his goal threat has diminished and his fake pressing … running at players until He has to actually pressure them… is annoying .. of all the regulars he is the one that has deteriorated over the last 18 months .. his finishing has become more wayward and given that he and lacazette don’t combine together I would try to extend latter sell aube and bring in a replacement in winter window
Was nice having you Auba. Wish you all the best in your next ventures. We need to move on.
Thank you and good luck.
I think we should turn our attention to younger targets.. Dusan Vlahovic comes to mind, what a player!
Young, tall (190 cm) and strong, good in the air, good finisher.. Contract running down too. He would be definitely be great candidate. Maybe send Torreira that way permanently..?
Also, another impressive games for Guendouzi and Saliba. I really hope if we sell Guendouzi (and Mavro), it will not be for peanuts as their value surely has increased this season.
I never liked Guendouzi but if am honest, he is better than Lokonga. I say bring them both back, it is the work of the manager to manage all players including the difficult ones.
@QD,
yeah, its his attitude that’s problematic.. He may improve it or may not.. Some people just can’t be helped..
Regardless, I think we need a new CM/DM. Elneny is a goner, Partey will be gone to AFCON, Xhaka is out few months..
Aouar is playing quite well at the moment. Bissouma is still top quality (apparently his attitude is problematic too). Palhinha is amazing at Sporting. Carlos Soler..
Lyon have an embarrassment of riches @ the CM with
Bruno G, H Aouar and Maxence Caqueret. All three
fit the recent Arsenal profile of players that Edu and
MA are targeting for the then and now of AFC. If
Lyon is still feeling the financial pinch I would love to
see Edu offer a cheeky bid for any of the three, although
Bruno G would be my personal choice.
As far as striker I personally would love to see Arsenal
exploit the favorable relationship with Lille and offer
Pepe back, plus cash for either Jonathan David or
Jonathan Ikone. Both are fantastic, young talents that
IMHO would thrive in North London and under MA.
And to be absolutely greedy, Edu should add one
more Ligue 1 youngster to the squad in January,
Cheik Doucoure from RC Lens. At 21 he is the same
age as Sambi, but applies his trade as a true DM
enforcer that has unlimited potential in the center
of the pitch. Valued at £6.6M he could be another
Tavares type of revelation at the club.
I would not extend Aubameyang’s contract. Does very little when he doesn’t score..almost as bad as Ronaldo…who is an Ozil that scores.
As much as I love Auba, unfortunately age isn’t on his side, so I wouldn’t offer another contract. We need to start planning for the future.
Huge boots to fill of course!
Am hearing wishing his contract ended today and someone else is even considering prolonging it.
He is definitely not in the mould of Zlatan, Ronaldo or Lewandoski..
His performances are dropping rapidly, and we have seen the best of him over the years, it’s not as if he had a serious injury that we could say he lost form.. He has simply declined and no too ways about it…
Even Laca shouldn’t be given another contract they are all in the same boat will simply have another Auba in Laca.. They both need replacing.
Our youngsters in Nketiah Martineli and Balogun should be giving more faith to prove themselves on a consistent basis.. They can’t do it if they are not giving game time.. one bad game from them Shouldn’t define their potentials.. Balogun at Brentford, or Martineli against Chelsea comes to mind
Agree Mizta, hopefully one of those three will get a good run in the side when Auba goes on AFCON duty and proves themselves, I would plump for Eddie myself and if he doesn’t show enough to warrant a regular starting place going forward I think we would need to buy in the summer in order to threaten the top four seriously next season
The other two have more time on their side to break through, we can’t be sure about Martinelli as he hasn’t really showed full recovery after that serious injury/operation yet and Balogun probably isn’t quite yet ready for the Premier League but he could break through next season
Laca continues to give value when he plays but I’m not convinced Auba does, occasional splashes but this new young team need reliability around them to develop properly, Auba is still a good player but hasn’t shown that he can adjust to a different way of playing in my opinion, seems to need the love of the crowd for best results, poor last season, much better at home than away this
I don’t think I would. I think the striker position needs a big refresh, and Auba’s output is definitely seeing a sharp decline, even though he is looking better than last season.