Arsenal get Aubameyang as Ozil ‘agrees to new contract’
PIERRE-EMERICK Aubameyang joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund for a club record £56 million ($79.2 million) yesterday. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger – who last August kept the football world on tenterhooks as he held out selling Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City because he failed to secure Thomas Lemar from Monaco – did not wait until the last minute to land the Gabon striker.
Wenger persuaded the Arsenal board to pay more for the 28-year-old than the £46.5 million they shelled out for Frenchman ALexandre Lacazette last August.
Dortmund were eying a six-month loan move for Belgian internationa l Michy Batshuay i from champions Chelsea, who have stipulated there will be no option to buy at the end of t hat period.
“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has joined us from Borussia Dortmund on a long-term contract for a club-record fee,” a statement from Arsenal said.
The club went on to describe him as “one of the world’s most highly rated st ri kers”.
“He scored 98 goals in 144 Bundesliga games for Dortmund and had a hand in 172 goals in 213 matches in all competitions for his former club,” it continued.
Highest paid ever at Arsenal
Aubameyang will alleviate the pressure on Lacazette although he would be ineligible for the Europa League having already played in the Champions League this campaign.
And in a further boost for Wenger, German World Cup winner Mesut Ozil yesterday finally agreed a new contract which will see him become the highest paid player in the club’s history, according to the BBC.
The broadcaster reported that the 29-year-old playmaker – who has been with the Gunners since joining from Real Madrid for a then-record club fee of £42.4million ($60million) in 2013 – signed a three-and-a-halfyear contract and will earn around £350,000 a week.
Speculation over both Ozil and Chilean Alexis Sanchez’s futures had plagued the club for almost a year, as both their contracts were up at the end of the present campaign.
However, while Sanchez left for Manchester United, where he has become the highest paid player in the Premier League at a pre-tax weekly wage of £500,000, Ozil has committed himself to Arsenal until 2021.
According to the BBC, both parties reached an agreement last weekend, and Ozil signed the new contract at Arsenal’s training ground yesterday.
Mercurial playmaker Ozil, a key member of the Germany side that won the 2014 World Cup, has scored 36 goals in 182 appearances and provided a high number of assists.
Tottenham were closing in on the signing of Brazilian Lucas Moura, out of favour at French giants Paris SaintGermain with the arrivals of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
The 25-year-old has according to reports passed his medical and would be the fifth most expensive signing in the club’s history – PSG would like the majority of the £26.5 million up front.
Those fighting to remain in the cash-rich top flight were also getting in on the act, with Swansea seeking to bring Ghanaian striker Andre Ayew back to Wales from West Ham.
The Swans were hoping to sign the 28-year-old for around £18million according to the London Evening Standard – having sold him to the Hammers for £20.5 million in 2016 – but the London side, who have only Javier Hernandez as their one fit striker, will want to bring in a replacement.
Long-time Watford servant Troy Deeney was a possibility and valued at £16 million to leave the club he has been with since 2010.