Arsenal: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang comes first and foremost

Arsenal’s transfer window is already underway with bids flying around, but until we figure out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, little can be done.

Arsenal‘s transfer activity started the moment the window opened. Here we are less than two days into the window being opened and they’ve already seen two low-ball offers for Thomas Partey rejected.

But until Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang‘s situation is resolved, not much can be done or decided on. Not just from a financial standpoint, but from a necessity standpoint.

Apart from being arguably our biggest bargaining token, what he provides for this team is so big that we have to talk about what replacing him would look like, if it looks like anything at all given the situation on that left wing.

First though, the financial situation. I made the case a couple days ago that if we’re going to sell Matteo Guendouzi, the “need” to sell Aubameyang essentially evaporates. Guendouzi can fetch the same price as Aubameyang, if not more.

That said, if the name of the game is restocking and refocusing, then selling both of these guys could net us over £100m of spending money. That covers Thomas Partey and a hell of a lot more, including if we want to explore replacing Aubameyang or investing in a new striker.

Personally, I’ll say what I’ve said before—selling Aubameyang doesn’t merit an equivalent purchase. That would be saying that Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli aren’t ready to start regularly, which they clearly are.

That means that selling Aubameyang would net even more cash to spend on stuff that we normally wouldn’t be able to afford. Maybe Luka Jovic, maybe prolonging Dani Ceballos, maybe another centerback.

If we don’t sell Aubameyang, chances are we might not be able to afford another centerback, or we may have to stick to Ceballos on another loan, which certainly wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

But like I said, this all starts with Aubameyang. With the club refusing to extend his deal to 2022, a mutual solution needs to be found in order to ensure that the club is well-equipped to proceed into the transfer window with complete clarity and financial understanding.

Whatever the case, we won’t know anything until after the FA Cup Final. We can speculate all we want, and I’m sure we will, but Aubameyang still has a huge part to play in that final match. And hopefully beyond that as well.