Noel Whelan insists it is a win for Arsenal to have offloaded Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the last transfer window, even though they haven’t signed a replacement.
The attacker had been a problem to Mikel Arteta and the Spaniard stripped him of the captain’s armband.
He was also banished from the Arsenal first team and he risked being another Mesut Ozil who stayed on the bench and earned the most money at the Emirates.
The former Borussia Dortmund striker wasn’t prepared to end his career that way and pushed to join Barcelona.
Arsenal agreed to tear up his contract for a simple compensation, less than half of the wages he would have collected if he remained at the Emirates.
His departure has left them short in attack, but former Leeds United man, Whelan insists the club did the right thing.
He tells Football Insider: “Arteta has done the right thing. I can imagine he will be chuffed to bits after saving £25million by getting rid of him.
“There was no way back for him, and now they can use that money to replace him.
“It’s good business at the end of the day, he was the highest earner.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
It is not a good thing that we haven’t added a new attacker to our squad, but offloading Aubameyang is a major win.
The striker was no longer in our first-team plans, and he could have spent the next 18 months collecting a huge salary without playing for us.
If his departure had been earlier, we probably would have signed a replacement.
We can do that in the summer. Hopefully, our current options will help us end this season well.
The only winner out of this is Auba himself .
Nice pay off and gets out of the circus our club as become.
I wonder who’s next for Artetas chopping board .
If only he could get rid of the moaning Minny fans.
I know, it’s relentless and tedious.
Sorry you two ,you keep burying them small heads in the sand
Not small heads *but hopefully you get my point
No Dan it’s possible some of us agree with some of the things you say but all your posts are negative and on just one theme no matter what the article is about. Sometimes I wish Arteta would leave just to stop your posts about him! The small head comment was not necessary and rude, you are better than that and insults are not needed.
No Dan it’s possible some of us agree with some of the things you say but all your posts are negative and on just one theme no matter what the article is about. Sometimes I wish Arteta would leave just to stop your posts about him! The small head comment was not necessary and rude, you are better than that and insults are not needed.
The small head comment was a miss print as I corrected that comment above .
Your more than welcome to skip my comments Declan it’s not rocket science mate ,if you felt the need to make a comment it was obvious I was going to respond .
Hopefully you will now go over the other regular posters and give them that same lecture you just gave me that have the same opinion as my self .
Yes, saw the after comment but you didn’t correct the original post with what you really meant to say so I didn’t know what you meant. It wasn’t a lecture, it was a comment said without name calling. Yes the Arteta in / Arteta out split is likely fairly equal and yes you are on the A/out camp which is your prerogative, I’m still giving the man a chance until the end of the season, call that sitting on the fence if you want but I’m old enough to have seen all managers since Bertie Mee so have seen many ups and downs. Peace out x
Declan, I’m old enough to remember when Bertie Mee, the clubs physio, was given the managers job. Lost 2 Cup Finals, one against a 3rd Division team. Just imagine how the moaning minnies would have reacted then.
I was at that 3-1 defeat by Swindon at Wembley and cried like baby when Don Rogers scored😕
Declan.I have come to th conclusion with Dan Kit that his whole raison d’etre is to be on JA, vitriolically stabbing MA in the back with his constant daily rants.
I see no other time in his life for him to do anything else at all in life. He is by a considerable distance the single most relentlessly negative and anti MA person on here.
I do believe he is an Arsenal fan , on balance, but I am bound to wonder most of the time, upon reading his constant dismal posts.
They are what you might expect to read from a Spud troll actually, even though I do not say he is one.
My comment was bury your head In The sand
Small was just a misprint
And bury your small head in the sand makes no since anyway .
@jon
I don’t have much to say to apart from …
When you call out me being the most negative person on here ….when you pretty much attack every writer ,every article ,every poster .
Have a good look in the 🪞 buddy .
As for my original comment I said the only winner was Auba which is a fact ,and I wonder who the next in line is for Artetas chopping block which again is a fact when you oook how he treats certain players ,I’m not sure what’s so negative about that whole comment .
I could remind you of your restless quest when a certain manager was in charge ,hoping he becomes Ill just so he would leave and plenty of readers saw you type that or have you forgotten all of that ,now I’ve never and wouldn’t ever stoop that low ,so maybe think on that before you Type your next comment .
Oh dear Jon!!!
Once again calling the kettle black.
Go back five years and re-visit YOUR daily rants about Wenger and those players you called “dross” with the regularity of a constipation remedy!!!
One thing Dan kit doesn’t do, is get personal (dullards Jon?) and if he does slip up, apologises immediately.
On to the article and I noticed that the excuse was given that if the club had more time, they could have replaced him?!?!?!
Well, it was MA who decided he was going when he decided to ostracise him, what, two months ago?
How long did it take Juve, Barca, Newcastle to buy a CF?
hahahahahaha so true mate
You are right Dan Kit.
Players are from different backgrounds, have different temperaments etc. A good Manager is one who can harness their strengths and qualities to a greater success of the club. Arteta is far away form this. A pure dictator, His way or no way.
What many do not realize is the value of a player (and we are talking millions of dollars) fall when they are not playing and frozen out. Our players are going away for zero while Kroenke is expected to spent millions for incomings.
Arteta is bad for business. Period.
Declan, I’m old enough to remember when Bertie Mee, the clubs physio, was given the managers job. Lost 2 Cup Finals, one against a 3rd Division team. Just imagine how the moaning minnies would have reacted then.
Zamind, rules are rules whatever background a person comes from. PEA isn’t the first player frozen out at The Arsenal. Merson(3 months) and Davis(16 months) were frozen out of the 1st team by George Graham. Other top players have been sold after falling out with previous managers of the club.
Here Drier, I’m sure you know why the two players you mention were frozen out, but we still do not know what caused such an incredible turnaround with MA and Aubameyang.
Going back to GG, we can also cite the wonderful David Rocastle and Charlie Nicholas as being part of his “clear out.”
I had forgotten these examples, as I have said I can’t remember any other manager doing this kind of thing.
The only difference is, of corse, we actually sold the players mentioned, we didn’t give them away and pay for the privilege of doing so, as is the case with Aubameyang.
By the way, I’m not a moaning Minnie, just giving my point of view as you do yours
He’s gone
He’s not our problem
Barcelona obviously think he’s worth the lengthy contract so let them get on with it
Thanks Auba for the good times but I’ve moved on
I’m obviously a heartless old bat but when you’ve left…. you’ve left. He was hardly a lad coming through the Arsenal system. He was paid beyond most people’s dreams and won’t be a pauper at Barcelona.
Absolutely SueP, I loved the man, one of the best players to ever grace the shirt, but as you say, he’s gone, let’s move on. COYG.
👍
Admin why can I not post an article on this topic?
@Fairfan. I have no idea what you are talking about. There is nothing of your “with held”
Arsenal would certainly win the league if the race was about highest “for free” payments – for players to leave. We are way out in front; no other cub is close.
As for the football, Arsenal will be out of the top six again with our boring, slow, unattractive and negative brand of Artetaforfreeball.
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WILL be out of top six, or MAYBE??
RFrancis I have to disagree with you we had no choice but to slow down games because one players was taking their time thinking about their next move on the pitch and one over dribbling, one of those players have left and the other is on the bench, I still have high hopes about the one on the bench
Classic
You need to starting watching our games, mate. Auba was most effective whenever we played quick counter-attacking football.
The player struggles with his back to the goal – this is a known fact. Are you forgetting how devastating he was with David Luiz’s long balls over the top? (Opponents would back deep, freeing up space for the other attackers).
Can you imagine if we had kept Luiz for one more year, kept Saliba too, and used the 5OM for Ben White to sign a world class midfielder?
I have no problem with a manager deciding who he wants to keep and sell…his job is on the line at the end of the day.
What I object to, is paying a player to leave, in order to play for another club that, trophy wise, is bigger than us AND get nothing in return.
We all move on, be it manager, player or (hopefully) owner, but our transfer dealings this window, along with the results can only be described as bizarre and depressing, in my opinion.
The club paid him just under a third of his remaining contract. When Wenger got the sack, he was paid 100 % of the remaining year of his contract.
Imo the club done the right thing.
Yes, that’s your opinion, although what Wenger has to do with anything regarding this giveaway is a mystery – didn’t UE also get 100%,Ozil 100% – I think its to do with having a legally binding contract offered by the club.
Out of interest, have you seen the value that Barca have put on Aubameyang?
I think THEY might have done the right thing, as they laugh all the way to the bank and that’s my opinion.
Yes I’ve seen that buyout clause, and also they’ve inserted a termination clause in his contract, in case he repeats his misbehaviour from his time at 3 previous clubs.
Well then, perhaps MA and Edu should start learning a trick or two about contract negotiations, wouldn’t you say?
It was AW who introduced the over 30 one year contract extension rule that gazidis completely ignored and MA has carried on in the same vein.
How anyone can justify giving away a player valued at £90,000 and paying said player £7,000,000 for the privilege of letting him go is utter nonsense and, once again, we have no idea what the circumstances were that caused the rift between player and manager.
As I pointed out, never before has any club given away a player for nothing and said player then having a release clause of, reportedly, £90,000,000 inserted in his new contract.
But if you believe that MA has done the right thing, then you can rest easy.
I would say Wenger should’ve inserted the disciplinary clause when he signed him from Dortmund, as he surely would’ve known about PEA’s previous disciplinary problems.
Wenger done away with not giving contracts to over 30’s when he gave Rosicky two contract extensions, one at the age of 31 and then at the age of 33.
Barcelona are entitled to give him a £90,000,000 release clause, but who on earth is going to pay that for a player oh his age, 32 ?
I’d rather the club got rid of the player, paying him £7m, than keep the persistent rule breaker till the end of his contract, this paying him £25m.
Great talk Ken
Wenger didn’t buy Aubemeyang, gazidis was in control of contracts and signings, along with his three wise men…so they should have put the clause in… however…
Why then, did MA give this “persistent rule breaker” , at the age of 31 years and ten months, a three year contract worth a reported £300,000 plus a week?
That would make him two months short of 35 – hardly a smart move wouldn’t you say?
Especially after the Ozil example!!!
Sort of puts your argument about who would pay £90,000,000 for a thirty two year old into perspective wouldn’t you say?
Again I suggest that MA and Edu could /should learn from Barca, a fair statement would you agree?
Let’s not forget, we gave him away and paid for the privilege, unlike your GG examples and I still haven’t found another example of ANY club doing such a thing.
As for Rosicky, I’m not sure about that, so can’t comment… but I will check it out… but you agree that Wenger’s idea was a good one, surely?