Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang “talks” seal off escape routes

Arsene Wenger has admitted that Arsenal are in talks to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, which eliminates all escape routes should the move fail.

Arsene Wenger is a very cautious man with what he says. He chooses his words carefully, almost scientifically, so as not to give to much away. And it’s plain to see why. When he opened up about Thomas Lemar’s link to Arsenal, the entire world was convinced he would therefore sign the Frenchman.

Then it fell through and the criticism was unleashed. Which showed, in part, why Wenger never admits to his transfer dealings. The backlash is something fierce.

As such, to this point, Wenger had not admitted much of anything concrete about negotiations with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He had acknowledged how good of a fit he would be, how he’sa good player, but said – and still says – that nothing was close.

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He has, however, taken the Thomas Lemar step and admitted that there are ongoing talks to sign the Gabonese striker. It’s a signing that, barring another player swap, will see the club break their own transfer record that they set last summer on Alexandre Lacazette, the man that Aubameyang would supposedly be paired – or competing – with.

It’s a very un-Wenger-like pursuit to be involved in, but here we have Wenger admitting that they are doing just that.

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Which puts the club in a similar situation as they were in last summer with Lemar. Wenger must be incredibly confident of signing Aubameyang, because he has eliminated all potential escape routes. He has admitted that the talks are ongoing, so if we don’t end up signing him, it will be a failure on the club’s part.

Which is never something that fans take lightly.

We have learned by now not to read too much into Wenger’s words, but it’s a rare day when he so openly admits that something is in the process of happening. As he said with Mkhitaryan, even – he would announce it when he announced it and not a moment sooner.

There was very little chatter about what was in progress.

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Not with Aubameyang. So either Wenger is just as excited as we the fans are, or Wenger is so confident that he knows it’s only a matter of time. Either way, in the subtle art of understanding Le Prof’s vague language, it sounds like we are about to pull off the greatest January transfer window of recent memory.