We cannot sell our best players – Arteta on Aubameyang

Speaking to the media as part of the activities in preparation for the game away to Wolves on Sunday, Mikel Arteta might have inadvertently stated his opinion on where he wants the club’s direction to be with respect to keeping his main scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. When asked on if he expected the transfer window to be smaller this summer he stated

We have seen different things, the way Chelsea is dealing with the market is different to the rest at the moment. Bayern Munich as well have been really aggressive so I don’t know. If you ask me we cannot be a team that has to sell his best player to try to bring in and improve our squad, that’s for sure.

Aubameyang clearly would fall into the category Mikel Arteta would consider one of the best players in the club and given the clubs penchant thus far for internal solutions with the extension of deals for David Luiz, Cedric Soares and Pablo Mari, Mikel Arteta would be looking at the club’s hierarchy to reach a similar agreement with Aubameyang, If there is player Mikel Arteta never fails to find enough words to talk about its Aubameyang. Speaking after the win against Norwich where the 31-year-old striker scored a brace, Arteta stated on the player’s readiness to extend his contract

“I don’t know, It’s the way I feel, the way I communicate with him, the conversations that I have with him, the people around him and it’s the energy that I sense.

 

“It’s just my opinion. Things change in football very quickly but when you ask me in that moment how I feel about Auba’s future, in this moment, I feel that he wants to continue with us and keep developing and helping us to be a better team.

 

He needs to feel like he’s somewhere that he believes that we can achieve the goals that he has individual and collectively for a long time.

 

“He’s very settled in the city, his family are really happy here and he’s loved, respected and admired by his teammates which is a huge thing to have in any football club.

 

“That’s why he gives me positivity, as well I see the enjoyment he’s having, the work rate that he puts in all the time and the decision that he makes to do that every time. That’s where my feelings are coming from.”

Aubameyang has broken Arsenal’s record to reach fifty goals surpassing Thierry Henry and Ian Wright.  With one year left on his contract, he is a highly sought after striker with rumours of interest early in January of a move to Barcelona.  Arsenal is in a precarious situation where they do not want to relive the experience with Aaron Ramsey who left the club on free after running down his contract. A similar situation is likely to be avoided here as the club would rather seek to invest funds from a sale in acquiring a replacement rather than have the player leave for free.

Fingers crossed, Aubameyang signs da thing soon.