The situation with Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s contract at Arsenal is far from ideal for the club, but you almost got the impression that the fans were merely resigned to losing another star player.
It’s happened recently with Robin van Persie and Alexis Sanchez where they left as their contracts ran down, and it looked like Aubameyang would be next.
In some ways you wonder if Arsenal had little hope of him still performing at such a high level as he moved into his 30s, as they agreed to give him a contract that ran until he was 32.
READ MORE: Tottenham transfer target has Arsenal allegiance uncovered on social media
Perhaps the plan was to simply let him go at that point, but they’ve actually made it much harder for themselves because this is the worst age to be negotiating with a star player.
He’s always going to demand a long term deal for financial security, but his game is based on pace so his form could drop off a cliff at any moment and the last thing they need is to be paying him a large wage when he can’t contribute anymore.
The current reality is that he’s Arsenal’s best player so they need to get him tied down, and this quote from Mikel Arteta sounds like great news:
Arteta: “I'm pretty confident we're going to find an agreement to extend Pierre Aubameyang contract soon”. The agreement is almost done and will be announced on next weeks. ??? #AFC #Arsenal
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 27, 2020
The ideal situation for Arsenal would be a two year contract with the option of a third, but at least this should prevent him from leaving for nothing next summer.
We needed him beyond 4 yrs From now, look at Vardy he is old and still performing better than some of the younger players. Let us tie Aub to a 5 yr contract we won’t regret.