Arsenal: Ranking the four Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang outcomes

3. Sold for cheap

If singing Aubameyang to an Ozil-like contract would be the worst possible case for Arsenal, the next is selling for cheap.

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While the club’s top goalscorer offers significant sell-on value that the club should explore, the true progress in selling and reinvesting the money raised is the price of the sale. Arsenal will be a worse team without Aubameyang, but if they sell high, they can replenish other positions and become a more complete team.

This process is not possible if Aubameyang is sold on the cheap. And in the current climate of COVID-19 and football clubs facing the possibility of little to no revenue for many months, it is highly plausible that Aubameyang does not command the sort of rebuilding fee that Arsenal require.

For example, if the highest offer is £30 million, that might only go part of the way to signing an elite centre-back or central midfielder. It does not move the needle enough to vindicate selling Aubameyang in the first place. Price, then, is everything, and selling for cheap would be disastrous.