The fallout from Arsenal’s own unique Greek tragedy continues. Ever since the Gunners crashed out of the Europa League to Olympiacos just over a week ago, which closed off one possible route (and arguably the most realistic one) back to the Champions League, the rumours about the future of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the club, or lack of one, have continued to swirl. However, even if the great Gabonese striker ends up leaving Arsenal this summer, the future for the club’s forward line is not quite as bleak as it had appeared even a short time ago. That is because the emergence of Bukayo Sako and Gabriel Martinelli, allied to the slow but steady improvement in the performances of Nicolas Pepe, offer hope that Arsenal’s young attackers can begin to fill any Auba-shaped hole that might be created.
Arsenal Attack Still in Good Shape if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Leaves
What Would Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Have Done in a Good Arsenal Side?
Arsenal fans, especially those of a certain vintage, often wonder what Aubameyang might have achieved in a good Arsenal side. Given that he has scored 49 goals in 74 league appearances for the club since joining from Borussia Dortmund in January 2018 – so, nearly two goals in every three League games – in what is statistically the worst Arsenal team for more than 40 years, they can only speculate as to how many goals he might have scored in one of the great Arsenal teams of the recent past, under either Arsene Wenger or George Graham. Surely the likes of Dennis Bergkamp or Robert Pires, or even David Rocastle and Paul Merson, would have provided him with many more scoring chances than he is currently being offered by Granit Xhaka or Matteo Guendouzi.
However, the fact remains that Aubameyang’s Arsenal contract runs out in the summer of 2021, and having been so badly burned in the past by players such as Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey running down their contract and then leaving for free, the club has already said publicly that if Aubameyang does not sign a new contract by this summer at the latest, they will reluctantly have to sell him.
The full extent of that reluctance was demonstrated by Mikel Arteta, who, in the run-up to this weekend’s home Premier League match with West Ham United, said: “For me it is very easy. I want to keep him under any circumstances.” However, whereas Arsenal’s new manager might be prepared to keep Aubameyang “under any circumstances”, which presumably includes keeping him until the end of his current contract in the hope that he can get the club back into the Champions League, those above him in Arsenal’s financial hierarchy, especially the Kroenke family, will surely insist on his being sold if he does not sign a new deal.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Has Put Alexandre Lacazette in the Shade
On the surface, that would be utterly disastrous for Arsenal. In the wreckage of this car-crash season, Aubameyang has been the one consistent performer, scoring 20 goals in all competitions. Indeed, so good have been his performances that they have exposed the relative paucity of Alexandre Lacazette’s. Mikel Arteta clearly thinks so, given that he has recently been picking 20-year-old Eddie Nketiah ahead of the experienced French striker, and his faith in the youngster has been rewarded by his recent goal-scoring displays against Everton in the league and Portsmouth in the FA Cup.
The irony is, however, that if Aubameyang does quit The Emirates this summer, then neither Lacazette nor Nketiah might be in the vanguard to replace him. Instead, Arteta might opt for a completely revamped attack, with a new three-man or ‘trident’ formation up front, consisting of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe.
Superb Saka
Other than Aubameyang himself, Bukayo Saka has undoubtedly been Arsenal’s best player this season, and that is despite the fact that he has not even been playing in his favoured position of left-wing. Instead, after injuries to both Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac, he was thrown into the team as an emergency left-back. Such have been his superb performances in that position, creating far more assists for the team than the supposed ‘assist-meister’ Mesut Ozil, that there is absolutely no chance of his simply returning to the reserves or the youth side. Instead, the only question is about where he will play – on the left side of defence or the left side of attack?
Despite the fact that Saka has been hugely impressive at left-back, almost acting like a one-man left flank in a way that has genuinely borne comparison with previous exponents of that art such as Philipp Lahm or Cafu, the suspicion remains that he will be even better when he is completely unleashed in attack. He is not a natural defender, as demonstrated by his recent appearances in the Premier League when he has occasionally been unaware of opposition attackers lurking behind him, and his incredible pace, skill and – above all – crossing ability are surely all best deployed in an out and out attacking role. It is, of course, possible that he might enjoy less space as an outright attacker than when he comes from deep, but if that is the case then he can always revert to full-back or wing-back. Either way, he has to be in the side.
Marvellous Martinelli
Gabriel Martinelli has been only marginally less impressive than Saka. Certainly, both players have demonstrated the sheer decisiveness that separates the very best players from those who are merely promising, as can be seen by the relative lack of impact of both Joe Willock and Reiss Nelson at Arsenal in comparison with either Sako or Martinelli despite them being offered even more first-team opportunities since the start of the season. Both Saka and Martinelli have absolutely seized their chances when they have been given them, with a tangible output in both goals and assists that, frankly, puts not only their fellow youngsters to shame but many of the team’s most experienced performers.
And Even Pretty Good Pepe
The final prong, as it were, in a possible Arsenal attacking trident of the future is Nicolas Pepe. Unlike Saka, who came through the club’s academy, or Martinelli, who was signed for what in the 21st-century transfer market is the relative chicken feed of £6 million, Pepe was acquired for a big transfer fee; in fact, Arsenal’s record transfer fee of £72 million. Given that that money could have been far more wisely spent on reinforcing the team’s virtually non-existent defence or adding some much-needed passing ability to an overly defensive midfield, for much of the season Pepe’s acquisition has looked like being one of the worst transfers in history, not just Arsenal’s but that of any club.
However, Pepe has undeniably improved as the season has gone on. Like every other member of the Arsenal side, he may have flopped against Olympiacos, but prior to that he had scored against Newcastle United in the Premier League and had generally shown the kind of trickery and inventiveness, allied to his undoubted pace, that suggests he could develop into a serious Premier League player over time.
The Two Advantages of the Trident
There is no doubt that losing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would be a major blow for Arsenal. Arguably, he is the last in a long line of world-class Arsenal strikers, or at least attackers, stretching back through Alexis Sanchez, Robin van Persie (if only for one full season), Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp all the way to Ian Wright. However, if he does go and is replaced by an attacking trident in the form of Saka, Martinelli and Pepe, with Nketiah and possibly even Lacazette (who will surely not have as many suitors as Aubameyang) in reserve, there might be two possible advantages.
The first is that such an attacking trident – the second three in a 4-3-3 formation – might just give Arsenal a much better balance up front than they have had for a long time, always assuming (and it seems a pretty safe assumption) that Ozil will finally leave the club when his own contract runs out in 2021. (Surely not even Arsenal would offer the feckless or ‘fake-great’ German yet another ludicrously lucrative new deal?)
Secondly, any money that the club can get for Aubameyang could then be spent not on reinforcing the attack, which even without him would still look pretty good, but on the other, much weaker areas of the team – i.e. the midfield and especially the defence – that desperately need reinforcing and have done for nearly a decade.
When a football team loses its star striker, which is what Arsenal are facing if they lose Aubameyang, it can still survive, principally by replacing that one man’s goals with a greater collective goal-scoring effort, whereby the goals are shared out much more evenly around the team. In modern times, perhaps the most spectacular example is that of Liverpool in 2004, who lost Michael Owen to Real Madrid but, with Steven Gerrard to the fore, won the Champions League less than 12 months later. Nobody is suggesting for a moment that this current Arsenal side is capable of such lofty heights, even with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but if the great Gabonese does end up leaving The Emirates there is still a lot of attacking ability left in the Gunners. It could just be a case of ‘The King is Dead…All Hail the Three New Princes!’
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