Paul Merson reckons Arsenal should risk letting Pierre-Emerick Aubamyeang leave on a free transfer.
Pierre-Emerick Aubamyeang will enter the final year of his Arsenal contract in the summer and as things stand today it is club policy to sell, however, not everyone is in agreement including former Gunner Paul Merson.
Merson reckons his goals are too valuable to let go and that the club should squeeze as much as possible from him.
Merson said on The Debate as quoted by the Metro: ‘If I was Arsenal I would keep him and tell him to give us what they can next season, get us back in the Champions League and then you can go for free.
‘It’s hard to buy goals and this guy is a natural goal-scorer. It’s hard to buy that.’
The best current alternative to the Gabonese hit-man within the club is probably Gabriel Martinelli but Merson is unsure if the teenager is yet ready to emulate Aubameyang goalscoring exploits.
Merson added: ‘I like Martinelli, he’s a top player, but you’re getting 15-20 goals guaranteed with Aubameyang, that’s some doing for Martinelli.
‘I can’t talk highly enough of Martinelli. He’s 18 and playing in the best league in the world. I’m a big fan of his. He will be a superstar.’
This is a tricky one for the club, especially after Arsenal head of football Raul Sanllehi publicly stated he will not allow a player to enter the final year of his contract.
Talking to the Sunday Telegraph last year Sanllehi said,
“In general, I do believe that a player’s contract should never go to the last year, as a policy,”
“But I don’t think I am inventing the wheel. Anybody could agree on that. Normally, the contracts of the players are for five years. You need to have a clear idea of what you want to do with that player when he is in the third year, at the latest.”
His credibility would be damaged if he follows Merson’s advice but at the same time, there is huge logic in what the former Arsenal midfielder is saying.
What should the club do? Let us know in the comments below.
Easy to say Paul your not the one losing around £60M
I say sell if he doesn’t want new contract but I have this sneaky feeling he loves life in London and would stay for a sighting on fee
Nothing to stop Auba 60m Mustafi 43m Laca 50m running down their contracts no matter what Sanllehi says. Ozil is 30+ so is Mkhi and they are on top wedge so we can’t sell them. Pepe is on fat wages so might end up same. Sanchez and Ramsey played their exits brilliantly cost the club 100m and all the other players will have taken notice. No wonder Arsenal is setting a new standard by either loaning players or buying cheap youngsters for 5m and paying 10k p/w max until they prove themselves. But this is plain logical any way. Why not just use our academy players and forget buying any one outside the club?Remember written on the Emirates “We don’t buy stars we make them” Perhaps (through circumstance) we will start to live up to that pledge?
I have often disagreed with you but on this post I don’t
😊
Auba is incredible. You feel Nketiah, Martinelli, Pepe, Lacazette, Nelson, Saka and the rest could really build into a very potent attacking force that potentially eclipses what we’ve had in the past couple years. It’s just so early, you almost need Auba for another year to help the kids transition into full time first team Premier League stars.
The best form of business is, if he does not want to sign, sell him – this is not rocket science. Trying to tie a player down wth some kind of ransom will always come back to hunt you.
No matter who or how valuable the player is, once he it is clear he willingly doesn’t want to commit, it shows he is thinking about other things – just sell him.
By the way, this guy, Odsonne Edouard, looks every bit the real deal.
Auba is too good to be sold in the summer. We need his experience and his goals badly as no one else in the current squad is giving us as much as Auba. Also he loves Arsenal and life in London, so allow him to stay till next year, let the youngsters mature and than he can pass on the baton to the likes of Martinelli and Nketiah.