TBR View: Arsenal should hold firm over key asset amid reported £20m price tag drop

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The transfer saga involving Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang continues to rumble on, with reports suggesting he’s set to move on from the Emirates Stadium this summer.

The Gabon international is arguably Arsenal’s most important player, having scored 20 goals in all competitions this season and taking over the team captaincy.

However, Aubameyang’s current contract at the Emirates Stadium expires at the end of the 2020-21 season and talks over a new deal have failed to yield a breakthrough.

The Gunners face a huge battle to qualify for the Champions League, eight points separating them from fourth-placed Chelsea, and even a Europa League spot is far from certain.

There are doubts over whether Aubameyang would want to remain at Arsenal long-term in that case, or even whether they could afford a new contract without European competition money.

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta, meanwhile, is reportedly eager to either tie the 30-year-old down to a new deal or sell him in the summer instead of allowing his contract – and value – to run down.

A report in The Mirror from February claimed Arsenal had slapped a £70million price tag on Aubameyang amid interest from Inter Milan.

A more recent report from Spanish outlet Sport, meanwhile, suggests the Gunners are now willing to settle for €55million (£50million), with Barcelona seemingly interested.

Arsenal ought to stand firm over one of their main assets rather than lower the price tag, as the above reports seem to suggest.

Aubameyang is a proven goalscorer and provider at the highest level – 141 goals and 36 assists for Dortmund, 41 goals and 26 assists for Saint-Etienne, and 61 goals and 13 assists for the Gunners.

That in itself should be enough to warrant not only plenty of interest from prospective suitors, but potentially spark a bidding war, as Aubameyang will undoubtedly and instantly improve a club’s front line.

In theory, clubs could wait until January to get him at a reduced rate, or even until the end of the 2020-21 season when he can go for free, but that could prove risky – another suitor could swoop in and get themselves a world-class striker for the whole of next season.

Ideally, Aubameyang would stay at Arsenal and look to help the club back into the top levels of English and European football, but in case that doesn’t happen, then the Gunners should make it clear they’re not willing to let him go cheaply, and look to get as high a transfer fee as they can for him.