Arsenal: Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang nearing end?

How long can Arsenal expect Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to put up with this clown show defense before they ask to leave town?

How long will Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put up with Arsenal’s shenanigans before they leave town to go play for a real football club? It’s a serious question when you consider how many professional footballers play like amateurs for Arsenal on any given day. Eventually, Lacazette and Aubameyang are going to grow tired of carrying the club’s water, only to have it spilt again and again by the likes of David Luiz’ shambolic defending or Unai Emery’s desperately random substitutions.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Unai Emery out?

Make no mistake, with every clown-show goal Arsenal conceded on Sunday, it becomes less likely that Lacazette and Aubemyang will sign new contracts. Look at the team as it exists right now. Why on earth would one of the better strikers in the world pledge the prime of his career to a team of has-beens or a manager who looks more and more out of his depth every day?

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World-class strikers don’t have to put up with their best work being undone by hapless defending any more than supermodels have to put up with grown men whose idea of a date is gas station chilli-dogs. Aubameyang’s frustration after yesterday’s debacle was obvious. Under the circumstances, his post-game comments were rather diplomatic, but it’s hard not to imagine him thinking something along the lines of ‘New contract? Please. I’m not going to pot braces so we can leave points on the carpet vs. the likes of Watford.’

For his part, Lacazette has too much class to blast his mates in the media. However, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t privately told his agent to slow-walk contract talks until Arsenal shape up. If they don’t, he’ll just ship out in favour of a club who can put a proper defence and midfield behind him.

At this point, it’s important to remember the fortunate accident that got Lacazette to Arsenal in the first place. Atletico Madrid originally purchased Lacazette, only to see the deal scuppered because of a transfer ban, which is when Arsenal swooped in. As Diego Costa gets longer in the tooth, it’s easy to see Diego Simeone coming back for Lacazette, whose class and intensity fits with El Xolo’s style like a glove.

The same kind of good fortune allowed Arsenal to get Aubameyang. He’s primarily at the Emirates because then recruiting director Sven Mislintat had a prior relationship with Borussia Dortmund. Mislintat is now gone. Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain is in the market for an eventual Neymar replacement. Aubemayang’s ability to play through the middle or on the left has to make him an appealing option. What can Arsenal offer Aubameyang to make him forget about the huge pay rise and a legitimate chance at major silverware that would come with a PSG transfer bid? The hope that two or three years from now William Saliba and Rob Holding might be a world-class pairing? Yeah, exactly.

If Emery doesn’t get his defence, tactics and substitutions sorted out immediately, Lacazette and Aubemyang are likely on the first train smoking out of town next summer. All it’s really going to take is one of them handing in a transfer request or refusing to sign a new deal before the other follows suit. If Sunday’s travesty is any indication of what Arsenal looks like with Lacazette or Aubemyang out of the line-up, why would either man stay after the other leaves?

Arsenal need to wake up and smell the coffee. Strikers like Lacazette and Aubameyang don’t exist to keep average clubs in the Europa League any more than thoroughbred racehorses exist to pull ploughs through cornfields.

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If the club does not start maximizing the value of its two best assets, another will. That would, of course, leave the post-Arsene Wenger rebuild in shambles. And if that happens, the club will have no one to blame but themselves.

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