Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang expectations off the charts

Arsenal landed a good one in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, so what can we expect from him in his first full year? That’s the exciting part. And the scary one.

We talk so often about what we can expect from any given player before the season begins, and more times than not, we get it wrong. No one knows that we can expect, especially when it comes to enigmatic Arsenal players.

So going into next season, looking at Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, it’s tough to forecast what we might be able to expect out of him.

But not for the usual reasons.

Usually, it’s tough to predict because we don’t know how well a player will fit in, how often he will be used and in what capacity, who he needs to build a rapport with, etc.

For Aubameyang, it’s the complete opposite. It’s hard to forecast what he may be able to do because his natural ability is off the charts. He scored 10 goals in just 1000 minutes in a brand new league with brand new team mates and brand new strategies.

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Mathematically speaking, that means 30 goals isn’t unreasonable if he can put in 3000 minutes. But is it even possible that 30 is undershooting? He played as a winger for most of his appearances, he was part of a dying regime and he still merged magnificently.

So what happens when you give him the world? He has more time with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, more time with the rest of the creative ranks, and more confidence in his skills, as they have already translated over from England.

Is 35 goals an unreasonable expectation?

Again, I’m not being unrealistic here. I’m not being biased. What we saw from Aubameyang in his first foray into English football should have told us one thing – he is going to score, and he is going to score often.

When you spread that out over an entire year, the sky is the limit. He scored 31 goals in 2700 Bundesliga minutes his last full season with Borussia Dortmund. If he was able to translate his numbers from last season over to his time at Arsenal, wouldn’t it be realistic to think that, in a happy environment, like he had that last full year at Dortmund, that he could do the same?

Arsenal is a happy place for him.

Next: Arsenal Complete 2017/18 Player Ratings

35 goals sounds like a lot. But for Aubameyang, it isn’t. And he has proven that. Now we just have to get back out there and do it.

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