Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is happy at Arsenal and wants to see out his contract expiring in 2023, despite speculation Edu wants to sell the Barcelona target, per the Express.
The Gabon striker produced his worst Premier League record at the Emirates Stadium yet last term with 10 goals in 29 games, having offered 22 in each of his previous full seasons. He also only offered three assists and often struggled to sway the general flow of matches.
Mikel Arteta was without Aubameyang for Arsenal’s season-opening loss at Brentford last Friday after testing positive for Covid. Since then, Sport have reported Barcelona have opened talks with the Gunners over a potential swap deal involving Philippe Coutinho.
Reports by 90min also claim Arsenal Technical Director Edu is actively working behind the scenes to try and sell Aubameyang. Arteta is supposedly open to the forward leaving north London, with Eurosport adding there has been friction between the pair.
But the Express now claim Aubameyang wants to stay at Arsenal and fulfil his ambition of becoming a club legend. He is committed to seeing out the contract signed last September, and is working to regain his fitness. The 32-year-old struggled with injuries during 2020/21 and lost 4kg in weight after contracting malaria while on international duty.
Aubameyang wants to build on the successes he has established in north London since his £56m transfer from Borussia Dortmund. The Gunners named the 62-cap international their captain in November 2019, and has scored 85 goals in 148 appearances in all competitions.
Arsenal will hope 2020/21 form was just a blip for Aubameyang
Injuries and the after-effects of contracting malaria clearly took their toll on Aubameyang last season, to count towards why his performances were significantly below the standards he set during his first two-and-a-half seasons at the Emirates Stadium.
Arteta and the Arsenal fanbase will hope 2020/21 was just a blimp for Aubameyang, but his pre-season was also underwhelming. The striker failed to score in any of his six outings this summer, and missed the opening Premier League game.
Arteta will want to see the Gabonese back to his best soon if he is staying put. Especially after throwing a spanner into Edu’s alleged late-window attempts to sell Aubameyang, who is lauded by his Arsenal teammates.
Mohamed Elneny said, via football.london in March: “Auba is one of the best players we have. And as a teammate outside of the pitch, he is a brilliant person. As a teammate, he’s one of the best – he’s always laughing. Auba is our captain, and he always supports us outside of the pitch and is an amazing person also.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
