Arsenal: The time has come, sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

I have posited it as a proposition for some time, but now I am fully on board. This summer, Arsenal should sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, however mad that may sound.

The idea of selling your top goalscorer is rarely a wise one. Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in football and when you get an attacker who can score plenty, you are usually most advised to keep a hold of them. In Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal have one of the best natural goalscorers in the world. Selling him would be foolish, then, right?

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Well, perhaps not. Aubameyang is undoubtedly a terrific player of great quality, but there are reasons why attempting to cash in on his services this summer could pay dividends for the whole team.

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The first and most important point is the distribution of resources. Arsenal, notoriously, are working with a limited budget, one smaller and more restrictive than many of their rivals’. And so it is critical that they spend their resources in an extremely efficient and effective manner. Having two out-and-out centre-forwards as two of your four highest-paid players and two most expensive signings in history is not a clever way to spread your resources. That point is even more applicable in the case of a Unai Emery-led team.

Throughout his career, Emery has wanted to play with a lone centre-forward. He did it at Valencia, Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain, predominantly using a 4-3-3 with two high and wide wingers, three mobile, well-rounded central midfielders who could cover vast spaces in central areas, and a lone centre-forward to hold-up play and run the channels. The most comparable system in the Premier League would be Jurgen Klopp’s all-energy 4-3-3 at Liverpool.

Two strikers does not fit the equation. Emery did not start his eventual Player of the Season for the first three games because he felt he did not fit the team. Then, when he altered his thinking, he initially moved Aubameyang out wide to accommodate Lacazette. Neither really worked, and it was not until mid-Winter that he settled on the 3-5-2 formation that allowed him to play with two strikers and three central midfielders.

Having both Aubameyang and Lacazette in the same team, therefore, does not fit with what Emery wants to do — or with what most modern-day managers want to do. So why not try to sell one and use the substantial fee and wages to invest in a more needy and relevant position, like, for instance, a direct, pacy, wide attacker?

And of the two players, who to sell is a relatively easy choice. Aubameyang is the better goalscorer, yes, but Lacazette is the more complete, all-round centre-forward. He is far more adept in the build-up, his touch is superior, and his deceptive strength helps occupy defenders and create space for his teammates.

He is also two years younger. Lacazette turned 28 three days ago; Aubameyang will be 30 in mid-June. And this is the biggest difference between the two. Should Arsenal want to cash in on one of their brilliant strikers, this will likely be the last summer that they can do so with Aubameyang. It will be difficult to sell a 31-year-old Aubameyang for north of £50 million next summer. Lacazette, meanwhile, still has three or four years left of his prime and at least two years in which he can fetch a substantial fee should he be sold. The decision between the two is a no-brainer.

And so, the question of whether Aubameyang should be sold or not comes down to whether you believe either Lacazette or Aubameyang should be sold at all. And for me, it is a most certain ‘yes’. Given the way Emery wants to play, the funnelled nature of the resources, and the need to invest in other areas of the squad, selling Aubameyang is the best course of action for Arsenal this summer.