Arsenal hopeful their positive rapport with Aubameyang’s father will secure contract extension

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s transfer saga has been a long drawn out one and shows no signs of resolution anytime soon. There is, however, some good news for Arsenal fans today.

The Telegraph reports that Arsenal are hopeful their strong rapport with Pierre-Francois Aubameyang, father of the Arsenal skipper, will help them in their pursuit to make their Gabonese star striker sign on the dotted line and extend his stay at the Emirates. 

Aubameyang signed for Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in January 2018 and has gone from strength to strength in his time at the Emirates. He was the joint top scorer in the Premier League last season and is on course to fight it out for the accolade again this year. Much of his success has been achieved in spite of his playing out wide for a significant portion of his time at Arsenal to accommodate Alexander Lacazette in the lineup. As has been said time and time again, Aubameyang is the closest thing we have seen to Thierry Henry at this football club. He has been absolutely imperious. 

The Arsenal captain has 12 months left on his contract and if he is still at the club come next season without having signed a contract extension, Arsenal will risk losing him on a free at the end of the 2020/21 campaign. There has been a lot of speculation regarding his sale this summer but the Arsenal hierarchy retain hope that he will sign a new contract because of their close ties with his father as well as the buzz that has been felt by everybody in and around the Emirates since Mikel Arteta took over as head coach. There is a genuine belief that Arsenal are in the process of building a project tuned for success and the hope is that this will play a role in Aubameyang’s decision making process. 

Arsenal Football Club, star players, soon-to-expire contracts and genuine hope. Throw all these elements together and it’s just another summer transfer window for most Arsenal fans. I haven’t added heartbreak to that list because I’m an eternal optimist. Let’s hope we can look back at this story 12 months from now with hope and excitement about what comes next for Arsenal and Aubameyang, our skipper.