Arsenal: Okay, Mikel Arteta, you can’t keep everyone

Mikel Arteta has done fantastic getting a hold of Arsenal’s spiraling season. But that doesn’t mean we just keep everyone and call it a day.

I was beside myself when Mikel Arteta convinced Granit Xhaka to stay at Arsenal. Correction, I am still beside myself. And the best part is I don’t even feel worried that I could wake up and hear that Xhaka has completed his move to Hoffenheim

But that doesn’t mean that Arteta should be going around, trying to keep a hold of every single player that we thought was going to leave.

I’m talking about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was linked to a £70m move to real Madrid. The Gabonese striker looked set to leave the club, but now Arteta is talking about wanting him to sign a contract extension to stay at Arsenal.

That’s where I have to draw the line. The same way I will when he likely says similar things about Mesut Ozil.

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Sure, it’s nice that these internationally acclaimed stars have found new life under Arteta, and we should be appreciating every minute of it. But we shouldn’t be trying to cling on for dear life past the natural expiration date.

The great thing about Aubameyang is he is at then peak of his value right now. The longer we hold him, the less he will be worth. I’m still not convinced that Aubameyang will stay this motivated through the hard times (and there will always be more hard times).

That said, I have strongly advocated for selling him ASAP, and I will continue arguing for it. Not least of all because I believe that Gabriel Martinelli can fill any gap left by Aubameyang relatively easily. It will still be part of his learning process, but he has showcased enough natural ability and maturity that it’s silly to doubt him. Maybe he isn’t at Aubameyang’s caliber right now, but he can grow into exactly that in time. The sooner we get there, the better.

And the more profitable. Which is always something we have to keep in mind. And something that all good teams keep in mind, honestly. You have to weigh the future value of a guy with what you can get in return now. And right now, we can get far more value selling him than we can keeping hold of him.

Maybe it’s just an attempt to drive up value. Maybe it’s just him trying to inspire loyalty, but I’m not excited about the idea of prolonging his stay. Are you?