Arsenal: Don’t drop Alexandre Lacazette, sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

There are growing calls for Arsenal to drop Alexandre Lacazette and move Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang centrally. While the sentiment is correct, Aubameyang should be sold, not Lacazette dropped.

Signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for a club-record £52 million only six months after the club previously broke their club-record for another fox-in-the-box centre-forward always seemed like a curious decision. And now, almost two years later, those curiosities have only been proven true.

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While Aubameyang and his strike-mate Alexandre Lacazette have routinely rescued Arsenal in recent years, the pair combining for over 40% of the team’s goals since January 2018, and seem to have a special off-field bond, one of friendship, fun and respect, their collective performances on the pitch have lacked cohesion at times.

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Put simply, the presence of two out-and-out centre-forwards is difficult to manage in modern football. With an increased focus on controlling the midfield, dominating possession and exerting pressure on opponents, having two strikers, and thereby taking a player away from another area of the team, often central midfield, causes conflict.

To combat this, Arsenal, first through Arsene Wenger, then with Unai Emery and now finally under interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg, have adapted Aubameyang’s role. While the Borussia Dortmund striker flourished in a central position in Germany, his strike-rate close to a goal per game, he had played out wide in younger years and the Gunners felt it best to shift him to the flank once again, such that they could squeeze both he and Lacazette into the same team without sacrificing control in the midfield.

It is debatable whether this tactic has worked or not. In some games, Aubameyang has flourished out wide, the greater space freeing his ferocious speed to blister opposing defences; in others, he has become isolated and the collective attack has stagnated without genuine width and balance.

As a result, there are calls for Ljungberg to change up the system. These suggestions are correct. Arsenal need to find a more suitable way to play with greater poise, structure and overall balance. But the manner in which it has been proposed — Lacazette being dropped for the more prolific Aubameyang to move inside — is asinine.

Would Arsenal improve if Aubameyang played centrally and Lacazette dropped to the bench? Yes, they would. A 4-3-3 shape with two natural wingers and an elite goalscoring centre-forward would work better than the unbalanced approach they currently trot out. But this stems from the deficiencies of playing a centre-forward out wide, not that Aubameyang has to change position. It could be anyone.

To solve this problem, Ljungberg would be much better served in selling Aubameyang, keeping Lacazette as the lone centre-forward and investing in a genuine wide attacker to play opposite Nicolas Pepe, should Pepe ever take to the pitch again. The reasons for this are two-fold, one footballing, the other financial.

First, the footballing. Lacazette is a superior footballer to Aubameyang. He might not score as many goals, but his overall link-up play, his touch, technique, creativity and decent goalscoring threat outweigh the blinkered approach of Aubameyang. Aubameyang offers little more than goals; Lacazette is a much more complete striker.

The second, financial, is simple: Aubameyang has just 18 months remaining on his contract, is already the wrong side of 30, and is threatening to walk out the door for nothing should Champions League football again evade the Emirates. If Arsenal want to make any money from the Aubameyang deal, they have to sell now — in reality, they should have sold in the summer, but no one was brave enough to make the difficult decision. Lacazette has greater longevity than Aubameyang, being two years his junior, and has an extra year to run on his contract.

Do Arsenal have an imbalance issue driven by their two centre-forwards that needs to be solved? Yes, they do, despite the goals they may be scoring on a consistent rate. But dropping Lacazette is not the way to solve it; selling Aubameyang is, however rash that may seem.