Newcastle contact Arsenal over £20m Aubameyang transfer

The new year is here and that means only one thing: transfer news. Forget resolutions or events of any kind, the focus is obviously solely on what Arsenal will do in January.

Kicking off 2022 with a desperately unfortunate 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester City, a tough outcome to take but one with positives aplenty, it was yet another match without the presence of the former captain.

It’s now six matches since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang played any minutes for Arsenal with Mikel Arteta stripping him of the captaincy shortly after the defeat to Everton, and spending this amount of time on the naughty step makes increasingly difficult to foresee a route back for him.

Not only are the team playing their best football since the manager came in, the length of punishment is unusually long.

Arsenal contacted by Newcastle over January sale of Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng on initial loan deal with £20m option to buy in the summer

But who could possibly come in and stump up Aubameyang’s astronomical wages to spare Arsenal from paying out another lengthy contract for a player who isn’t part of the plans? Is there any club around that might suddenly have come into a bit of money? Maybe one in the Premier League?

Of course. Newcastle!

Dancing perilously close to the relegation zone despite having the richest owners in football – by quite some distance – the Magpies desperately need reinforcements and are eyeing January as a pivotal moment in their history, let alone their season.

News of another injury to key striker Callum Wilson has exacerbated the issues further, and there is no surprise to see the Mirror run an exclusive stating that Newcastle have contacted the Gunners over an initial loan move for the 32-year-old.

The deal would include an option to buy in the summer for £20m, a fee Arsenal would comfortably chew someone’s arm of for.

But a few hours into the new year the only surprise about this move is that it wasn’t speculated sooner. Aubameyang does not appear to have any future at Arsenal and there are precious few clubs across Europe who can afford to sign him, or indeed want to sign him given his salary expectations, poor form, and age.

Were this offer to make its way to Arsenal from Newcastle – and there is some scepticism about that – undoubtedly Arsenal would demand an obligatory purchase. They may not want more than the £20m, but the Magpies have more money than sense and can afford to pay the fee upfront without an option. Everyone knows their situation very well.

Verdict: Arsenal would be foolish not to listen to offers and Newcastle will certainly be among the potential options. However, will Aubameyang want to go? That’s highly unlikely for a player of his calibre, and that could make matters tougher.