ART’S IN THE RIGHT PLACE
Mikel must get ace Auba to stay
MIKEL ARTETA will be hoping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has sealed his own fate.
Two more goals from Arsenal’s main man secured another FA Cup triumph for the London club and a place in the Europa League next season.
Now it’s down to the club’s board to strike at the double themselves and secure the future of someone who has carried this team on his own at times.
The Gabon striker, 31, went into this showdown having entered the final 12 months of his contract – and came out of knowing he can now name his own price.
Former Gunners star Paul Merson admitted earlier this week that Aubameyang had the club ‘over a barrel’.
He doesn’t. He has them bowing before his talented feet, et, desperate to know w if he will reject the e chance to join n Barcelona or
Inter Milan in favour of staying where he is.
The Gunners s have an option on n Aubameyang’s deal eal to extend it to 2022, 2, but the clause would see his wages rise significantly and also land him a multi-million bonus. The overall package would cost the club up to £20m.
So what? German flop Mesut Ozil earns this amount from the Gunners every four months. They might as well flush the same mind-boggling amounts down the drain.
While Ozil was AWOL once again yesterday, Aubameyang was plundering his 28th and 29th goals of a stunning season to enhance his reputation as one of the most lethal strikers in Europe.
Since making his debut for the Gunners in 2018, Aubameyang has scored more goals in all competitions than any other Premier League player with 70, two more than Mo Salah.
Gunners owner Stan Kroenke might be known as ‘Silent Stan’ because he is heard even less than he is seen around North
London, but the American billionaire should be singing the praises of Aubameyang.
He should be shouting it from the rooftops that his club has a world-class talent who might now be in his 30s, but can still have a huge role to play in helping them claw their way back towards the summit of the domestic game.
Instead of worrying about how much it will cost him to keep Aubameyang, Kroenke should have a think about how much it would cost him to replace the former Borussia Dortmund sensation?
The answer would bring tears to his eyes. The Gunners have won a record 14th FA Cup and a first trophy for new boss Arteta because of A Aubameyang (le (left).
Pl Plain and simple. He scored sc twice in the semi-final to sink Manchester City, then did it again here to send Chelsea packing as well. The chosen few privileged enough to get inside Wembley to see the first ever final behind closed doors were not surprised by Aubameyang’s brilliance. He showed cunning and guile to earn and convert his side’s equalising penalty, before caressing a clinical winner past Willy Caballero.
One of his greatest strengths is his consistency, which makes it even more absurd that a club with the class, history and prestige of the Gunners have been naive enough to allow someone of Aubameyang’s importance and stature to go into the final year of his deal. Now they’re in big trouble, because if they want to keep him it’s going to cost them.
But lose him and it will cost them even more.