Arsenal: Arsene Wenger must use Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang properly

Arsene Wenger signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to lead Arsenal’s attack. Now that he has him, he must use the pacy Gabon international properly.

Arsene Wenger has his guy. On the deadline day of the January transfer window, Arsenal submitted and completed a £56 million move for Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The landscape of their strikeforce had been formed.

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Even with the club-record £47 million acquisition of Alexandre Lacazette six months prior, with Alexis Sanchez departing, Wenger felt it necessary to add an upper-tier quality attacker in Aubameyang. He was right.

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The problem, however, is that being right in the transfer market and being right on the pitch are two very different things. Buying the right players for the wrong position, or the wrong players for the right position, for that matter, is not a successful way to build a football team. And by position, I do not just mean ‘striker’ or ‘winger’ or ‘centre-half’.  I mean the role that the individual plays, the tasks that they are required to carry out, the responsibilities that they have and the way in which the team plays to them and around them.

In Aubameyang, Arsenal undoubtedly boast one of the most prolific strikers in European football. 69 league goals in his last two-and-a-half seasons as Dortmund’s spearhead was proof enough of that. But he is still a relatively limited player in terms of style and strategy. He is not like a Harry Kane, Luis Suarez or Robert Lewandowski, possessing a myriad of rounded abilities that comprise a great striker in whatever approach the collective team takes. He excels in particular fashions. It is now up to Wenger to accentuate those fashions.

For instance, Aubameyang does not have the guile, touch and link-up play to partake in the same type of game as an Olivier Giroud, the man who departed to facilitate his being in North London. He does not flourish with his back to goal, holding off defenders, fighting for aerial crosses, providing a focal point for the team’s attack.

Rather, Aubameyang requires early and accurate service not into his feet but into the channels ahead of him. He wants the defence to be turned, running towards their own goal. He wants to be fed as he scampers into space. He does not want to be heavily involved in the build-up play. He wants to be the last touch, on the shoulder, stretching the pitch vertically.

If pandered to correctly, Arsenal have the perfect midfield to be able to take advantage of such a player. Even the much-maligned Granit Xhaka has the long-range passing quality to distribute from a deeper position and release Aubameyang early in attacking moves.

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But Wenger must allow that type of style to evolve. Arsenal’s slow, methodical but calculated build-up does not best suit Aubameyang. They must be quicker, sharper, more direct, a little more intentional. That may not be Wenger’s natural position, but it is one that he needs to allow his team to adopt if they are to best utilise the skills of the shiny, new weapon.