Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang renaissance changes nothing

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has looked a brand new man for Arsenal since Mikel Arteta took over. That’s great. Really great. Now sell him and don’t look back.

Call me the firing squad today, because I’ve got my scope on everyone that needs to leave Arsenal and I’m taking no prisoners. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed this resurgence of the old guard under Mikel Arteta, but it doesn’t change much for the long term. In fact, it changes nothing.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is one such case. The Gabonese striker had one foot out the door all year until Mikel Arteta took over. He was still knocking home the goals, but very little outside of that. Such that, when he didn’t score, you might have wondered if he was on the pitch at all.

Under Arteta, we’ve seen a renaissance of our star man. When he’s not scoring goals, he’s tracking back on defense, he’s doing the grunt work that he hasn’t done in years.

It’s a joy to watch. He’s an incredible athlete and it’s nice to finally see him giving his all, holding nothing back, and truly working for the team. It’s also a testament to Mikel Arteta’s managerial abilities.

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That said—sell him. Quickly. Before something changes. And make no mistake, something could change at any moment with someone like Aubameyang. Especially seeing as how our Champions League prospects are… dwindling.

Aubameyang still carries tremendous value for his goal-scoring prowess alone. But at 30 years of age, and with his contract expiring in 2021, every added day he spends at this club is more money chipped off of his transfer value. The closer we get to the end of that contract, the closer we get to not getting a good monetary return, and the closer we get to a sticky situation. Especially if we enter the last year of that contract.

As it stands, rumors of £70m to La Liga are floating around, and I couldn’t imagine a happier outcome from this whole ordeal than turning a profit on the guy. What could be better? And how many ways could we spend that money to get better, younger, and more passionate? I just love every bit of the rumor and if there is any credence to it whatsoever, let’s get it done.

Like I said about Ozil, we can absolutely still enjoy him while he’s here, but we have to be practical thinkers. Otherwise we will end up in the same situation that Arsene Wenger left us in in his latter years.