Aubameyang’s Twitter buddy gives advice on his future.

Morning all.

I think it’s fair to say that since Arsenal announced Bukayo Saka had signed a long term contract extension, the focus has turned to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. His two goals against Norwich highlighted his importance to the club. Apparently. I’ve always said that I’m not fussed if he stays or goes and that hasn’t changed. Perhaps I’d feel differently if his quick fire 51 Premier League goals included scoring against the top clubs in England but that’s not been the case. Not really. Perhaps I’m being harsh. Probably, because does it really matter which club a player scores against, as long as he’s scoring them on a regular basis? Plus, he’s scoring his goals whilst playing out wide. A good job he is too because the goals haven’t been coming at great speed from anyone else.

Auba has scored against Stoke, Huddersfield, Cardiff, Toots, Burnley,  Everton, Watford. Norwich, Brighton and Newcastle. He has managed the odd goal or two against Man Utd and Chelsea I think but when it comes to the top two, he’s seldom in the game. There is an argument that Arsenal are barely in those games, period, but I still remember the chances he missed against City and then Chelsea during Unai Emery’s first season. Perhaps it’s time for me to forget them. After all, his 51 goals came quicker than Thierry Henry’s. But, and here’s the big but for me, age.

Aubameyang is 31 years old. Henry was 24 years old when he hit 50 league goals so the best of him was yet to come. My fear with Aubameyang is that the best has already come. But, how on earth would Arsenal replace his 20+ goals a season? Mikel Arteta clearly wants him to stay, or at least that’s the impression he gives out.

The above is a bit of friendly banter between Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Twitter. Another ‘sign da ting’ moment. We’ve had a few over the years. The bromance between Lacazette and Aubameyang seems to have cooled as they’re not involved in each other’s goals as much but instead, Auba is sharing moments with others more now. AMN being one, Xhaka at the weekend is another. He’s spreading his love. In a socially distancing kind of way of course.

Joking aside, when Arsenal played Brighton, Aubameyang looked like a player who just wanted the season to end, to pack his bags and head off somewhere new. Yet against Norwich, he was all over the place, literally. Not just him either. Has the penny finally dropped for the Arsenal players after Matteo Guendouzi and Mesut Ozil have been ruthlessly, and rightly in my opinion, dropped from the squad?

Whilst the focus will remain on the future of Aubameyang, purely because of his contract situation, another concern for me is Alexandre Lacazette. He’s scored just 34 league goals since his arrival at Arsenal three years ago which for an out and out number 9, isn’t particularly good. He’s two years left on his contract which means for this summer only, the club could get a decent amount of money for him. Selling him would also remove £182k a week from the clubs hideous wage bill. It’s not like his rough average of 10 goals a season would be missed, would it? I’m quietly confident Eddie Nketiah would surpass 10 each season with ease. Gabriel too and Pepe if they played centrally.

But finishing with Aubameyang because that’s where I started, I don’t think is a good time for him to move. Football’s financial situation is up in the air, he’s already on a very good salary which other clubs might not be prepared to match let alone better at the moment. He could leave for free next summer but he’ll be a year older so the big doors might start closing for him so logic says stay put and enjoy being the main man.

So yes, just ‘sign da ting’ – but don’t demand a huge pay rise. There’s no doubt his goals could be crucial in our push for top four next season. For what’s its worth, I think he will as Mikel Arteta is saying similar things about Auba as he did Saka and we know that outcome.

See you in the comments guys.