Arsenal: Don’t make the Ozil mistake with Aubameyang

Arsenal will have financial problems as long as Stan Kroenke is in charge, but they must be careful not to exacerbate those problems with repeat mistakes.

You could ask 100 different Arsenal fans what the main thing holding this club back is and get a spattering of different answers, but hopefully the majority would answer something about the woeful financial status of this somehow poor club.

You would have never thought that Arsene Wenger giving Mesut Ozil a shiny new contract last January would be such a pitfall, but lo and behold, his wages were one of the main reasons that Aaron Ramsey couldn’t get the money he deserved.

You can’t blame Ozil for that. You blame the club that gave him all this money knowing that the club was in a transition phase, or at least headed for one.

Now, the Gunners are struggling to offload Ozil because of those wages, which they may have to eat, and instead of learning from this mistake, they are now discussing the possibility of giving Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a raise from his £190,000 a week salary.

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Don’t get me wrong. If you win the Golden Boot, you deserve a raise. But we really need to think about this. China is offering Aubameyang £300,000, so what are we offering him? More? And wouldn’t that defeat the whole purpose of slashing the wage bill if we just turn around and inflate it again on a player who, while brilliant, has his downfalls and isn’t really the kind of player you can build around?

In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t want to sell Aubameyang, but giving him a raise that re-cripples our torrid wage structure is even less appealing than selling him. If he needs a new contract, and the club is prepared to provide for him on the pitch, then sign him up, but don’t do another mega-contract with wages that put us back where we were last January, hoping that this 30+ year-old luxury player is going to carry us to glory.

Maybe it’s just me being jittery since Ozil’s big contract and how horribly awry it went, but if I hear anything about player’s getting a big contract boost, I shrivel up. If it can cripple us once, it can cripple us again.

Then again, with just two years left on his deal and the recent statements from the higher-ups at Arsenal, Aubameyang is at his decision point.