We all know that Arsene Wenger was famous for only offering one-year contracts to players once they reached the ripe old age of 30, but that philosophy seems to have been thrown out of the window since Le Prof left the club.
Just this summer, Arsenal gave long term contracts to the 32 year-old Willian, and the 31 year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, although that seemed justified due to his goalscoring record.
But now Auba is out of form, it is Alexandre Lacazette that has stepped up with 5 goals in his last 4 games, but Mikel Arteta has now told Sky that there will be no discussions on a possible extension until the summer, who will be 30 and will still have 12 months left on his current deal. The boss said: “No, we haven’t talked about anything related to his contract.
“We will talk in the summer and make a decision on what is going to happen.
“I’m delighted with the way he’s performing, the goals he’s scoring and the form and energy he’s got at the moment, so he needs to keep doing that.”
It will be interesting to see if Willian doesn’t improve and show that he was worth the investment, and if Aubameyang doesn’t regain his goalscoring boots, we may find that the Arsenal Board may realise that Wenger’s philosophy may have had a lot of sense in it, and stop giving big contracts to aging players.
Or do you think Lacazette could keep performing for another three years?