Sport
Aubameyang dilemma giving Arsenal de ja vu
Arsenal spent much of last summer trying to find a buyer for Mesut Ozil, but to no avail. The German playmaker was earning £350,000 per week at the Emirates Stadium and was understandably in no hurry to give up such an attractive pay packet.
Mikel Arteta subsequently left Ozil out of Arsenal’s Premier League and Europa League squads but the club was forced to continue paying his sizable wages. It was only in January that the Gunners finally got Ozil off their books, as Fenerbahce agreed to take him to Istanbul on a free transfer.
Arsenal fans breathed a huge sigh of relief. But when Ozil signed that huge new deal in January 2018, most of them cheered. Alexis Sanchez had just left for Manchester United, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving in the other direction. Arsenal’s ability to convince Ozil to commit another three years to the club was seen as cause for celebration.
Fast forward to the present day and Arsenal supporters might be starting to fear history repeating itself. Eleven months ago, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signed a new three-year deal worth £350,000 per week. Sound familiar? That represented a pay rise of £150,000 per week for the Gabon international, whose new deal made him the highest-paid player in the Premier League. It would run until after his 34th birthday, by which time a footballer whose game is based upon speed might have substantially slowed up.
It was understandable that Arsenal wanted to keep Aubameyang. In the 2019/20 season he scored 22 goals in the Premier League. He had reached the same figure the previous campaign, when that tally was sufficient to earn Aubameyang a share of the Golden Boot alongside Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
Yet less than a year later and Arsenal are reportedly ready to listen to offers for the forward, two years before his contract expires. Aubameyang was underwhelming last term, scoring only 10 goals and finding himself in and out of the side. There were mitigating circumstances: he spent time in hospital with malaria, and was not always used in his favoured central role by Mikel Arteta. Even so, Aubameyang did not play like a £350,000-per-week player in 2020/21.
Arteta was without both Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette for Friday’s trip to Brentford, ostensibly due to illness. The Arsenal boss spoke cryptically of the absentees before the match, stating: “they feel unwell, that’s all I can say.” The Gunners delivered a flat performance and were deservedly beaten 2-0 by the promoted side. Next up are Chelsea and Manchester United, so things could get worse before they get better.
Rumours this week suggest Barcelona are interested in Aubameyang but the Catalans are in financial disarray and the forward would have to take a significant pay cut to move to the Camp Nou. And therein lies the problem. It is difficult to envisage another club in the world agreeing to pay £1.4m a month to a 32-year-old who has just come off a disappointing season.
Arsenal could be stuck with Aubameyang, and while it will be up to Arteta to try and coach him back to form, the worry is that the club could soon be lumbered with another highly-paid player who the manager does not want. Seven months on from Ozil’s exit, history might be repeating itself.
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