Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang contract will take time

Arsenal don’t have a resolution to the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyan situation, and they probably won’t for a while. This will take time.

Aside from the big, league-wide questions facing every Premier League side, the biggest question for Arsenal fans is what happens next with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The prolific forward is out of contract next summer and the quest for an extension has been in full swing for some time.

There are two major factors to take into account with Aubameyang—1. He’s reportedly looking for wages around £300,000. That’s not at all an unearned amount. It’s just a lot. 2. He wants Champions League football.

With both of those things in mind, I’m here to tell you that we aren’t likely to have a resolution to the contract saga in quite some time.

The obvious reason is because of the situation with Champions League football or lack thereof. Mikel Arteta himself admitted that guys like Aubameyang would be hard to keep without a spot in the most prestigious competition.

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With the current postponement of the season, a resolution from this side of things is even further off. One theory is that the season could be canceled and the results picked up from last year. That would put the Gunners in fifth, and with City’s ban, we’d get into the Champions League. It’s a longshot, but time will tell.

The other issue causing this contract saga to drag out is the wages. Qualifying for the Champions League would obviously give us a financial boon that could grant Aubameyang his preferred wages, but even still, the big question is if we can offload the £350,000 that is being paid to Mesut Ozil.

Once you do that, we can give Aubameyang his wages and still be saving money. Ozil’s wages have already cost the Gunners dearly when they had to part with Aaron Ramsey, but it’s never been more crucial to offload him than this summer.

Ozil only has one year left on his contract too, but in the name of a proper rebuild, we have to shed the mass of wages that are being shoveled into the Ozil estate every week for very little return. This, obviously, can’t be resolved until the transfer window opens up.

As you can see, there’s a lot getting in the way of Aubameyang signing a new deal. Maybe we can find a presale of Ozil and ensure we can pay Aubameyang, but we’d still need a resolution to the Champions League conundrum. So buckle in Gooners, we’re going to be here awhile.