IT'S NOT AUBA
Arteta warns Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke not to sell Aubameyang and believes captain wants to sign new contract
Sponsored by
MIKEL ARTETA warned Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke: Don’t you dare sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Skipper Aubameyang, 31, yesterday gave a big hint that he is prepared to sign a new Gunners contract via a team-mate exchange on social media.
2
And boss Arteta has now heaped pressure on the Emirates board to make sure it happens by declaring he would not accept having to sell his best player to fund new recruits.
Arteta said: “We cannot be a team that has to sell its best player to try to bring in and improve our squad, that’s for sure.
“Things change in football very quickly but when you ask me in that moment how I feel about Auba’s future, I feel he wants to continue with us and keep helping us become a better team.
ARSENAL NEWS LIVE: Follow for the latest Gunners news
“It’s the energy I sense. He needs to feel he belongs somewhere, that he believes we can achieve the goals he has, individually and collectively, for a long time.
“He’s very settled in the city, his family are really happy here and he’s loved, respected and admired by his team-mates, which is a huge thing to have in any football club.
“That is what gives me positivity. I see the enjoyment that he’s having, the work-rate he’s putting in all the time and the decisions he makes.”
LADBROKES 1-2-FREE
Aubameyang, whose current deal runs out next summer, was urged to pen fresh terms by team-mate Ainsley Maitland-Niles on Instagram.
Replying to a post Auba had put up celebrating reaching 50 Gunners goals with the first of his double in Wednesday’s 4-0 rout of Norwich, Maitland-Niles wrote: “Sign the contract bruh, stop posting.”
Striker Aubameyang responded with several laughing emojis.
Arteta knows what it is like to lose your best player and captain from his own playing days at Arsenal when Robin van Persie quit for Manchester United in 2012.
The Spaniard added: “When we played with Robin he used to be the difference for us every week.
Most read in Football
“I always say he is the striker I have enjoyed playing with most because of his intelligence, his overall quality to play in any position on the field and his finishing and movement.
“Now we have the big luck of having Auba, who is a player who can do that in any moment of the game.
“We have to feed him and put him in the right position as much as possible to help us win games.”
2
Mikel Arteta says he hopes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will score ‘another hundred’ goals as Gabonese striker becomes fastest player in Arsenal history to score 50 Premier League goals
Topics