Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, had some very positive news to bring to Arsenal supporters on Friday.
In amongst the doom and gloom of the Gunners being stuck in eighth position in the Premier League table and a cavernous 40 points behind champions Liverpool, the Spaniard’s suggestion that he expects Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to stay at the club will surely have lifted spirits.
“The way that I communicate with him (Aubameyang), the conversations that I have with him and the people around him. It is the energy I sense,” Arteta told Arsenal.com.
“It is 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 help us to become a better team.
“He needs to feel he belongs somewhere that he believes we can achieve the goals that he has individually and collectively for a long time.
“He is very settled in the city, his family are really happy here as well I think, and he is loved, respected and admired by his team-mates, which is a huge thing to have at any football club.
“So that’s what gives me positivity, as well because I see the enjoyment he is having, the work-rate that he puts in all the time, and the decisions that he makes every time. So that is where my feelings are coming from.”
The Gabonese has recently become the quickest player in Arsenal’s history to score 50 goals.
50 – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored his 50th Premier League goal in fewer appearances (79) than any other @Arsenal player, and is the 6th fastest to this total among all Premier League players. Clinical. pic.twitter.com/YWjDZJzFsP
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 1, 2020
The threat he brings is obvious and the Gunners can’t really afford to allow him to slip through their fingers, particularly if Arteta genuinely believes that his heart is still at the Emirates Stadium.
Whilst a long contract on big money for Aubameyang might not appeal to the money men at the club, they have to weigh up what they’re getting from their front man and how much bringing in another striker of that ilk would cost them.
The fact he is settled, loves the club and is willing to stay is a big plus for Arsenal, but if they keep dilly-dallying then there’ll surely be no shortage of takers elsewhere.