Arsenal fans will be used to seeing their talisman leave after several departures over the years, but it always seems to happen in a terrible way.
The recent examples of Robin van Persie and Alexis Sanchez saw players who were running their contract down, and it forced the Gunners to take what they could to allow them to leave.
Admittedly they had very different times at Old Trafford, but the fans must be sick of seeing star players go due to poor contract management from the club.
The Telegraph (subscription required) reported on the latest with Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, and it’s clear that Arsenal hope to avoid another repeat.
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His contract is due to expire at the end of next season and he turns 31 next week, so this might be his final chance to secure a move to a big club.
Although nothing has been sorted yet, they claim that Arsenal have a strong relationship with the player’s father (who is also his agent) and they hope that it will be enough to help them secure an extension.
It’s a very interesting one for the club because he’s been so good in recent years – 61 goals in less than 100 games will be tough to replace – but his age must also be a concern.
In some ways it would be typical for Arsenal to get the deal done only for him to start to decline and they would be stuck with him on a huge wage, so it’s an interesting decision to make.
Clearly they want to keep him and continuity is never a bad thing, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out.