The date was the 15th September 2020. There was a real buzz around the club as news was released that Arsenal captain and star man, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had signed a new three year contract worth 350k a week. There appeared to be little negativity surrounding the announcement despite the saga lasting almost the entirety of the summer transfer window. After all, why would there be? This was the man who single-handedly won us the FA cup with braces in both the semi-final and final. This was the man that had been our top scorer for the past couple seasons. This was the man that was going to become the focal point of a team aiming to get back to the big time.
However, fast forward to the present day, that buzz is long gone. There are questions marks regarding his form, general play and perhaps most concerningly, his attitude. It was only a few weeks ago when our club's top earner was left on the bench in a crucial London derby as he was late for the bus. Suddenly, a bumper three year contract for a 31 year old doesn’t seem like it was the brightest idea.
But where has it all gone wrong for Aubameyang? If we take a look at his stats for this year, they make for grim reading. Nine goals with just the one assist in 25 appearances in the Premier league this season. If we’re being totally honest, that's not even a shocking return but it’s more the fact that Aubameyang is meant to be our talisman, our leader, someone who is supposed to score the important goals to win us matches. Three of those goals were scored in the same game against Leeds so it makes it even worse that he’s gone many games without a goal.
More worryingly for me is that he never really looks like scoring nowadays. I’ve always seen him as similar to Jamie Vardy in the sense that he can be out the game for large portions and then abruptly come out of nowhere and score a goal. I think this was down to his movement but it appears he can’t get into those positions as much anymore. Furthermore, who even knows where his best position is? You could argue that he can’t play as a lone striker because his overall link up play is poor but then you can’t play him on the left wing because he won’t get in the game out wide. How does Arteta fit him in? We’ve got exciting players like Martinelli who can’t get a sniff because we’re trying to shoehorn our captain into the team.
That brings me to his attitude and body language which you have to say has been pretty atrocious in recent weeks. I thought that when he got dropped against Tottenham, he’d come back firing with a point to prove. This hasn’t been the case at all, in fact it’s probably made it worse. You have to say in our games against West Ham and Liverpool, he looked a real liability. He looked disinterested. He played no part in our comeback against the Hammers and offered absolutely nothing against Liverpool. In both games he was subbed off early, something that was almost unheard of last season.
I find it very difficult to blame the club for Aubameyang's struggles. They’ve done everything they can to help him. I think Arteta was right to bench him against Tottenham, it was a good message to send out that no player is bigger than the club. I even refuse to blame the club for giving him a new contract. Just imagine the outrage if Arsenal had turned around and said actually it’s not financially intelligent to offer an ageing player a new three year deal. It’s like the Ozil situation all over again. They’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t. They can’t win. Everyones an expert in hindsight. It’s easy for a fan to say ‘why did we give him a new contract, look how bad he’s been this year’ when probably the same fan was singing the clubs praises when we gave him the new one in September. I suppose that's the irony of it all.
Going forward, I think the only thing we can do is try and support Aubameyang the best way we can. It’s disappointing to see how quick fans can turn on the players. If he can rediscover his form of last year, he can be a real asset for us in our Europa league run. It’s too early to toss him to wolves especially given the amount of goals he’s scored over the years. One day you’re the cock of the walk, the next a feather duster.
Jonathan Howard
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