Post transfer window day 1
The misery creeps into every facet of my life and grows in the dark places of my soul like black mold. My morning walks have become mourning walks. The sunrise is less bright. The birds singing seem sorrowful instead of sweet. My bread doesn’t rise as well as it used to. My pickles are too sour. My chips aren’t as crunchy. And my sandwiches all seem pathetic. WHY LORD?? WHY?? WHY DIDN’T WE BUY A PLAYER???
Anyway, Auba’s gone and I see that the post-transfer make-believe machine is humming along quite nicely. Many fans are churning out some deleterious takes on Auba’s time at Arsenal. My favorite of the bunch is that he was “crap” this season and that his missed “sitters” and lack of effort cost Arsenal many points. What a load of trash.
Auba wasn’t perfect. He had plenty of flaws – his hold-up play wasn’t good for example and yes, he was notoriously late for things over his entire career. But his effort on the pitch was exemplary and even Arteta praised Auba, THIS SEASON, for his work rate and told us all to forget it if he isn’t scoring goals because what Arteta wanted was for all his players to give what Auba was giving. Here, let me give you Mikel Arteta’s own words
“I have never seen Auba transmit what he is doing now. Apart from the goals, the celebration when they put the ball in the net, do you see the way he runs? The purpose he has to press the ball, and when he takes it his movement, his link, how is leading the game – that is when he is changing the rest, not when he is static and then he puts the ball in the net. I prefer this Auba. For me it is a click. It is a combination that realising that his role has to go well beyond that.
What was good, or very good, two or three years ago, with his role in this team, at this club, it is not enough. He had to take a step forward. I would say the same with Laca, look what he is transmitting, not just doing or playing, what he is transmitting. For me that is really, really important.
They lead by example and not only there but as well at the training ground. Certain things, a role they could have had three years ago in the squad, now it has changed.”
And he did all of that while being played in a left wing position. I have commented on this plenty of times, he was sacrificing himself and his goals to press, harass, and track back for the team. He was doing exactly what Arteta wanted him to do.
The crucial thing with Auba is that he needs shots in front of goal. Across his career, he has always been the kind of player whose movement and nose for where to be at the right moment, scored goals. He doesn’t have a terrific shot from outside – though he did develop that in his first season with Emery, which speaks to his professionalism – and he’s not a great dribbler. But if you get the ball on the ground, in the box, he will score.
He will of course also miss shots. All strikers do. And he did miss a shot against Everton which people are calling a “sitter”. According to Understat it was a 0.08 xG and FBREF has it as 0.3 xG. I’m sorry but a 20% chance is hardly a sitter. But if you wanted a stick to beat him with, I guess he’s guilty of missing the shot that would have given Arsenal a… draw against one of the worst teams in the League. He also missed an actual big chance against Man U, which also would have.. given us a draw. So, he has missed a few shots and of course people will remember those, rather than the game winner against Norwich or the tying goal against Crystal Palace. Such is the life of a striker.
You know what the trick is to make it so that people stop remembering that he misses chances? It’s not easy to do but it’s to get him more chances. That’s it. That’s kind of how football works! Your team tries to create chances and prevent the opponent from creating chances and the other team does the same. Sorry to be all reductio ad absurdum.
And I have been wondering what happened between Arteta’s public hug of Auba and his very public falling out with Auba? Remember that this was a player who could have left Arsenal. Right after winning Arsenal the FA Cup (hey! remember when he didn’t miss those sitters?) we signed a 31 year old player to a 3 year contract worth an absurd £54m. And again, Arteta heaped praise on him in the announcement that he’d signed with us:
“It was important for Pierre-Emerick to stay with us. He’s a superb player with an incredible mentality. Being the player to have taken the least amount of time to reach 50 goals with this club tells you everything you need to know about him and his way of working. He’s an important leader for the team and a big part of what we’re building. He wants to be up there with the best players in the world and leave his mark. He can achieve that here.”
Lol. Whoops!
I don’t want to be too hard on the club here but they did know what they were getting into with Auba. This wasn’t like a fresh faced kid who’d never been late for practice all the sudden showing up late every game. He’s been notorious for his tardiness his entire career, including his time at Arsenal under three different managers.
Yes, of course, that doesn’t mean that he should be allowed to run riot over the rules but getting nuclear angry with him over this issue would be weird.
But look, we don’t know what happened exactly. Maybe he said something about Arteta’s momma. Maybe he did one of those “your momma’s so fat” jokes? And that’s not cool, dude. That’s ableism and for that you get canceled. I mean actually cancelled, not “I got canceled to the tune of an extra $100m!” like Dave Chappelle or that great idiot Joe Rogan.
But what’s really strange about this is that I was listening to the Arsenal Vision Podcast this morning and they had James Benge (reliable journalist) on and he gave some detail from the Aubameyang camp which makes the whole thing that much more perplexing.
Benge said that Arteta’s reaction was a surprise to the Auba camp. If you recall, he’d been late to the North London derby in March (2021) and Arteta dropped him. The Auba people assumed that that was the end of that. He’d been punished and that’s how that works, you get punished and everyone moves on. But according to Benge, what’s happened here is that all of these old things have been dragged back up again. So, when he chose to stay late in France with his mum and then forgot to get a COVID test, it apparently all was used against him again.
Now, maybe that’s “the straw that broke the camel’s back” sort of thing? And I can understand that. And frankly, I’m fine with Arsenal moving on from Auba – that contract was stupid from day 1. There was no way that a 34 year old Auba was going to be worth 18m in his last year at Arsenal. But what’s surprising is that Benge said that the Auba camp was sort of blindsided by Arteta’s reaction. And Benge said that the Guendouzi camp said the exact same thing. Now, yes, these players are difficult to work with and Guendo was never Arteta’s man, but Auba was definitely Arteta’s man. Arteta signed him to a new deal, made him captain, heaped praise on him. And yes, Auba fucked up. He shouldn’t have stayed overnight at his mums house and probably should have gotten his COVID test. But the level of reaction, and the way that the club leaked it all to the press to make Auba look bad was, I think, an unedifying moment.
But it’s over, done, dusted. We aren’t saddled with his contract and I guess we get to move on. He also gets to move on and I bet he scores plenty of goals for Barcelona because they probably won’t make him play as defensive cover for a wingback.
Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you
Forget the dead you’ve left, they will not follow you
The vagabond who’s rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore
Strike another match, go start anew
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue
(Bob Dylan)
For Arsenal it means that younger players will need to step up and score lots of goals and work their asses off (Martinelli). Which is ultimately a good thing and which I would like to very publicly praise. I am a huge fan of developing young players and giving them more chances than they probably deserve. And I’m also ok with us not signing anyone for the above reasons and because the players on offer weren’t perfect – ok, that’s not true, I think we really missed out on Bruno and it makes me mad (see paragraph 1) – or didn’t want us.
But look, we can’t live in the past! Living in the moment’s what we do. Auba’s out the door, he’s now a cule. He’s not scoring us goals, he’s Xavi’s mule. The transfer window’s closed, and there’s nothing new. It’s all over now, baby blue.
Sad to see him go like this. He gave us a lot. Remember how relieved everyone was when he re-signed for us, he was basically the brightest star of a pretty gloomy bunch. Arsenal.com make no mention of him this morning. I guess I’m not surprised, but I find that shameful. Without knowing all the details of his transgressions, I still think we owe him some love. Thanks, Auba, good luck mate.
Excellent write up
“look what he is transmitting, not just doing or playing, what he is transmitting. For me that is really, really important.”
Perhaps everything would be okay if the club could just bring in a mobile ham radio transceiver to rotate with Lacazette and Nketiah?
This manager has consistently denied that chance creation is an issue with the team. Even when directly asked he has said we just need to be more efficient in taking those chances. Either he believes that, or he needed a scapegoat to support that argument.
As for the contract. I disagree. It was rich, but was the right decision. Even the length. I was surprised Auba agreed to 3 years instead of 4. No way he would agree to 2. I’m guessing the calculation was to get into the CL and then have access to a pool of higher end talent to replace our prime goalscorer.
Now we can only hope what we have is enough for the remaining 17 games and that we then have the finances and the ability to sign a couple of goalscorers capable of getting us/keeping us in the CL.
But what if we extend Laca now? Is that something people would be ok with?
From what I can tell Arsenal have the following contract slabs
SuperMax: 250-350k
Max: 200k
Starter: 100-120k
Backup: 50-75k
Rookie: 30-40k
I suppose we’re going to try and make 200k as the supermax, if we don’t make the CL. I’m not sure it’ll work out quite as seamlessly as they’d hope.
“As for the contract. I disagree. It was rich, but was the right decision.” — Yes! I understand it’s not a “comfortable” contract, but:
1. Proven goalscorers are not cheap. Look at our pursuits this Jan and last summer – one decent goalscoring season pushes a player beyond 50m in transfer fees. Auba had 6!
2. *If decently managed*, he was capable of producing commensurately for at least two years of the contract.
3. Because of his natural athleticism and style of play (poacher) there was a decent chance (no guarantee) that he could retain some level of performance for the last two years.
All told, that was a “let’s make a push toward the top” contract, not a “5 year project contract”. It’s exactly the contract I wished this club was more willing to do – 5 year projects are wonderful in theory; in practice, they’re just an excuse to milk attention and revenue without performance.
We really don’t know the full story but the one constant in the Auba, Ozil, and Guen sagas has been Arteta, there is something about him that strikes me as being dictatorial. I believe in any work environment (except military and para military organizations) where people have to be managed there is always a bit of give and take, Arteta seems to lack that.
It’s a shame it ended the way it did. I wish Auba all the best, he gave his all on the pitch for us. Thanks for all the wonderful moments mate
Thanks for the memories Auba. One of the few players I used to watch out for outside the Premier League. I thought when he joined Dortmund we’d never see him on these shores. But Arsene’s parting gift was a high point amongst the many lows these past four years. If you’ve visited Camp Nou you’ll know it doesn’t get any better than playing there every week. Mes Que Un Club.
“And he did all of that while being played in a left wing position.” – first few games of the 2019-20 season he was tracking opposition fullbacks near our own corner flag. My eyes bled. I don’t how anyone can claim he’s not a team player. He’s not captain material. So what? Neither was Henry. Can’t win a title without that level of player. But my mistake mentioning a title – our ‘reasonable’ expectation is top… what is it this month? Top 9 for the calendar year?
All this has also made me reflect on the received wisdom that Wenger ‘inherited’ his back four. He had the good sense to see the value in his inheritance, and enrich it. Arteta inherited Auba, Laca, Pepe, Martinelli, Saka, Nelson. That is obscene attacking wealth – a mix of experience and skills most European clubs would kill for. I don’t mind him spending on defenders, I can accept he didn’t have much to work with there. But to dismantle that forward line? Garbage. Utter garbage.
well said tim. i appreciate your even-handed consideration of auba’s on-field performance. i also find arteta’s blackballing of him to be over-the-top, though i’m generally more positive about him as a manger overall than you seem to be. i think we could have used him in the second half of this season and that ostracizing him was uncalled for based on what we know.
that said, if the arsenal hierarchy decided to back arteta on this issue, then getting in a forward as cover shoudl have been deemed essential. we know laca and eddie are out of contract at the end of this season, so with auba gone as well we’ll need 2 new strikers for next season. if our top targets were unattainable in this window, then we should have been aiming at our backup targets (assuming the plan was/is to get two strikers where one is the clear intended starter). a number of strikers (ikone, pepi, weghorst, alvarez, cabral) went for between 10-15 million, so it can’t be a case that the prices were out of reach.
beyond the striker, though, the part that really burns me is not getting a midfielder. we knew before january that we’d be light in midfield. personally (a) i think we sent roma the wrong midfielder, since we know mouriinho wanted xhaka and i would rather have amn in my team than xhaka every day and twice on sundays, but moreover (b) if we knew we were sending amn out and that we’d be missing partey and elneny (whose contract is expiring in the summer) i see no reason under the sun why we didn’t pursue zakaria, who signed with juve for less than 5 million due to his own expiring contract, or better yet my preferred midfield target: franck kessie, who is also on a expiring contract. milan have been unable to extend him, and the best teams in the world are going to be trying to sign him in the summer on a free. we should certainly try ourselves, but we really should have tested milan’s resolve with an offer (or several if necessary).
oh, and i forgot to ask, tim: you mentioned as an aside in a recent postt or comment not liking jonathan david as a potential striker for us. have you explained your feelings on him at more length in a post i missed, or if not would you care to briefly lay out your thoughts on him?
cheers and thanks for the diverting read as usual.
Im glad you mention James Benge, because I saved some quotes from him and Lewis Ambrose (neither of whom is a “hater” but report/analyse Arsenal FC and know it well) from last night
Benge: “….my abiding memory of Auba’s four years came on the 2019 tour. I’ve never seen a player being so warm and supportive towards the youngsters in the squad, not just in training but in helping them deal with the spotlight. So many Arsenal youngsters speak so highly of him.”
Benge again: “Every person is a mess of contradictions and there were ways in which Auba was a challenge to manage, I don’t doubt that. But even though I didn’t really know him I think it was obvious whenever you saw him that he cared deeply about his teammates and his club. A sad ending.”
Ambrose: “Mostly just think it’s a shame that Aubameyang’s Arsenal career came when we had our worst set ups for attacking players. He still made a hell of a lot out of it and very few players get to leave having pretty much single-handedly delivered silverware like he did.”
And you, Tim, yesterday: “the problem with Auba was that the system didn’t produce for him. Your striker needs and thrives on big chances. He scored 3/8 big chances this season and 4/10 last season. That is just not enough. You can reasonably say that the number of big chances a striker gets he will score about 50% of them. Vardy had 23 big chances last season and this season just 10 so far as their system has slowed down. If you don’t put a striker in position to score goals he won’t score goals.”
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a great signing for Arsenal, had 121 direct goal contributions (92 goals, 29 assists) in 165 appearances for the club. That’s a fantastic record, and he should be proud of it. His goals were a key contributor to our winning the FA Cup in 2020.
Today is a good day to stay off twitter because it’s crawling with the establishment’s reflexive apologists trying to rewrite history, and to rewrite Auba’s legacy.
I especially liked Benge’s first comment here, and yours, from Arteta himself, on Auba’s value to the club… until, of course, he had no value whatsoever. It’s true that we don’t know everything that went down, but some gooners use that as an excuse to not acknowledge anything. There’s a fair bit that is out in public, and you quote some of it in this excellent piece.
I didnt think he could get a move done. Too many moving parts… family, Barca’s dire finances, time. But he did have a ringside seat to Ozil’s exile, he likely came to the conclusion that hanging onto your money, overall, isn’t worth it. He’ll be poorer, but happier, and working for a guy who has achieved much in the game, and at one of the sport’s iconic clubs, whatever their current circumstances.
Thanks for your service, Auba. Have a productive spell at Barcelona.
Did anyone notice the club’s parting cheap shots?
When the deal looked in danger, Auba flew to Barcelona. The club let it be known to the media they were surprised that he’d done that. As in, “see? he does what he likes.” This a player training on his own, and left out of the Dubai trip. Auba, to spin it in case it collapsed, called it a family trip. There were a few hours left in the window, and it was touch and go. They didn’t have to do that.
They also briefed aggressively against the player… that they were after an exit rather than a loan, and they were not prepared to pay him a penny. Which of course, isn’t true, because they’re paying him for the remaining 6 months of this season, and Barca pick up his full but reduced wages next season (source: Ornstein).
We can only assume that the reason that they haven’t put out a public statement of farewell as yet, is because every i has not been dotted on the agreement as yet.
But what a classless club Arsenal has become.
Wow.. I actually didn’t know any of that.
I noticed all this, left me gobsmacked. It was so… cold. Like, we don’t care what you do, stay and rot or go. It wasn’t even a loan, it was like we’ll cancel your contract you figure it out.
Really made me feel a bit empty inside.
This is the Kroenke way. They are the most soulless sports owners.
To be clear, unless there was some serious breach, Arsenal can’t unilaterally cancel Auba’s contract. He had to also agree. He clearly thought that going to Barca and playing, even if for a possibly lower salary next year, was a better option than staying.
Clarification: Arsenal are “part-paying” (key phrase that I mistakenly left out) the remainder of Auba’s salary for this season. He and Barca are absorbing some of that cost.
It does not appear to be true that Arsenal are saving his full half-season wage packet, as some gooners are brandishingg as some sort of victory. It does appear though that they are saving all of the money for the final year.
Fun fact: Ozil left in January; but he got all of his money for his full contract, up to June. Arsenal was paying him the 6 months remaining on his contract while he was playing for Fener .
Auba won Arteta the trophy which enabled him to ride out that part of his Arsenal coaching tenure he should’ve been fired for.
Football fans rewrite history all the time.
Just check out their Ozil comments from the time of his first signing to his ultimate release.
Auba’s no different.
I’m sad. Ultimately this may be win-win-win, but it’s also lose-lose lose.
Auba wins because he gets to play, Barca may win if he performs, and we – sorry, the club – win because they’ve offloaded an unwanted player. But Auba loses because of how this all went down, Barca may lose if he sucks, and we lose because we’ve lost some actual depth (unlike the others we let go) and a lot of reputation.
I wanted Auba to go. Actually I wanted him to stay, but once it become super clear he was not going to play again, I wanted him to go. For his sake, but also for the club – wages and all that. But gosh darn, did it get ugly. And why? We keep speculating about some secret reason, but there is none. There is no pee tape, folks. The story is exactly as it sounds. Which is absurd.
Part of me thinks the overblown reaction was deliberate by the club. Either the manager or the owner or both wanted him out. Wages, probably. Maybe it was clear in training that Laca was a superior option up front and that Auba was declining, whatever it may be, the conspiratorial part of me thinks they just decided he was going to go. But they couldn’t just bench him and try to sell him, for two reasons: (1) no incentive to go and give up some very nice wages, (2) it signals to other teams he’s no longer top class. So they benched him abruptly, and made his lateness a big deal. Lateness! Other clubs don’t care about that, not really. He’s not a rapist, not a disruptive presence, all of that would be a red flag for clubs. Lateness? That’s okay.
So they presented a player who was being locked out not for serious disciplinary reasons or declining quality, but issues with the boss. A desirable asset for other clubs. But the salary was a stumbling block – still on big wages. Even if clubs came in, he would have no incentive to agree on a lower salary if he thought there was hope at Arsenal, or that he could coast. So they scorched the earth. Made it intolerable. Cast him out as a pariah, publicly humiliated him, excluded him from the group.
It worked. Man alive is it cold, heartless crap. And to a player who gives off nothing but positive vibes! But they did it, and they got him off the wage bill and redeemed their contract error (at least partly, of course). But I did not know my club would be capable of such a thing, and it hurts.
Did Arteta do it? To say it was Kroenke and not Arteta does two things: (1) creates some fantasy narrative to divert Arteta of any blame, based on zero evidence; (2) ignores that to be complicit is just as bad as to be the brains behind the operation. Regardless of Arteta’s opinion or personal conduct, he is complicit. And this should forever sit as a stain on his persona.
It may turn out to be win-win-win, but it’s a damn awful way to treat one of our best and most popular players of recent times. Or anyone, really.
This is who we are now. It started with unceremoniously sacking 55 staff members and Gunnersaurus after enforcing a pay cut on the players, and then turning around to say just because they did that doesn’t mean they get to run the club. Actually it started with Ramsey’s contract being withdrawn even without informing him.
So it probably is Kroenke more than Arteta. But Arteta seems very happy to go along with it. I think he just likes there to be a clear hierarchy. (He once reportedly gifted Gazidis a watch from the money he collected from player fines – for being late)
Honestly, this is something that is a huge stain on this club and why I’m not a fan of this whole process malarkey.
This is the most eloquent statement on this thing that one can hope to read. None of us could have put it any better. “There is no pee tape”. Bingo.
Let’s be clear about one thing. This is not all on Mikel, but in how this played out he has massively improved his standing with the owners and the board. I worked for a wealthy family owned business; here is how they think. “Managing out” Aubameyang and saving a lot of money is big plus in his favour. They’ll care less if it leaves us short and we finish 7th. Im not saying they won’t care at all. They’re not stupid — sporting success ultimately matters financially, and I don’t doubt for a minute that they want Arsenal to do well on the field — but they’ll have liked the ruthless and effective approach that gamed Aubameyang into only one lane, more than they’d be miffed at the manager for missing Top 4. So, everyone wringing their hands over Eddie jogging on to rescue the game? Relax. The smart guys figured out already that Top 4 — maybe even Top 6 — isn’t on, and they’re cool with that. Maybe you should be too. Again, they’re not stupid. They know that weakening the squad makes that goal less likely.
This isnt gospel… I could be wrong. Im simply trying to show how the super rich look at things like this. Arteta won, and he showed the sort of ruthlessness they admire in business. I said last post that I can see signs that they’re prepared to extend him… I feel even more certain of that now.
The next time Mikel and Edu walk into a high level meeting, Josh and co will probably have to stop themselves giving them a standing ovation. But Mikel and Edu should be careful. In their world, the biter often gets bitten.
We the fans need to understand that world. We don’t, and it’s why some of us feel the way we do at how this went down. That said, I prefer the fan’s view of things, and old-fashioned ways of loving/supporting a club. £16 million in crisp bank notes isnt going to put the ball in the net. Behaving like Gekko might win down the road, but at what price?
“And frankly, I’m fine with Arsenal moving on from Auba – that contract was stupid from day 1. There was no way that a 34 year old Auba was going to be worth 18m in his last year at Arsenal”
You re-invent what you have written in previous years quite often, mostly I can’t be bothered to challenge you on it but when Auba signed his new contract, you did some maths on the value of a goal (c£1m / goal if I remember correctly) and wrote that this meant that Arsenal were right to keep him.
Whether he actually realised that prediction is a fair challenge but at the time you supported the contract
That’s true, I thought that it would be an ok deal. However, I change my mind on things when people challenge me and a lot of smart folks challenged me over the last two years and changed my mind. Those folks turned out to be right, I was wrong at the time.
I hope that clears things up.
So with all the money saved, we’re all-in for Haaland this summer right? He’s young and has the skillset we’re looking for. And would be super excited to play with our group of young attackers.
Seriously, we’re in crossing our fingers mode. If everyone stays healthy and performs like we did in December, we should be fine for 5th-7th, maybe even have a shot at 4th. But if things look more like January, we could end up in 8th or worse, which would make recruitment harder.
And I don’t see any real upside to renewing Lacazette unless he magically rediscovers a lot of scoring. Even then, I’d only offer a year.
Ha Ha Halland!
Remember the Vlahovic, Guimaraes, Aouar last year. After Saliba players in Europe are aware of what involves in working under Arteta.
By the way it looks like Saliba is moving to Real Madrid. The story is that Mbape’s father coached Saliba. Real picked the story and taking Saliba so Mbape feels good to come.
Arteta has been an arsonist of superstars and star material, a graveyard of talent .( See TWH14 post )
Artetas’ ruthlessness will cost him. There’s a post Tim wrote about his overall touchline antics where he sometimes over does it. I mean, why spend a whole week working on tactics and then on the day of play be animated excessively on the touchline as if they didn’t have a strategy at all or whatsoever. Our game against city was the best we’ve ever played and coincidentally Arteta wasn’t on the touchline, the players played with freedom. Expressed themselves that day with nobody shouting and issuing orders on the touchline. IMO, Arteta should take a chill pill or he will get sacked sooner than later. Aubas departure leaves a bad taste on the team and it doesn’t seat well with the squad as I see it. They might decide not to play for the Man and off he’ll go.
If one’s CV or performance is not adequate, one should add a bit of song and dance routine at the touch line to embellish it 😅
Impresses ingenue owners helluva lot
Thanks for the post Tim. I agree Auba was a great signing and did a lot of great things for the club. I wish him a lot of luck in Barcelona. Like you I have no idea what happened that caused his falling out with the front office and speculating when the only real info we get is from the players PR team is folly. I like your idea that he did some that turned out to be the straw which broke the camels back but again none of us has any idea what actually happened
Last season Auba’s goal output dropped by more then half and this season he had only scored 4 in 14 appearances and had not scored a goal since mid October. That’s a large enough sample size to draw the conclusion that his skill are fading and Auba was clearly not part of a short, medium or long future for the club. No one can blame Auba for his drop in production because Father Time catches up with everyone. However, Almost every club is going to try and find a way to move a player who is on very high wages but not producing now and not a realistic part of the future of the club. We look at everything that happens at Arsenal with a magnifying glass but plenty of teams find ways to move underperforming high wage players. Look at what happened to Aaron Ramsey at Juve. He only made 3 appearances this season and club made no secret they were going to find a way to dump him this transfer window. Its an unsavory part of the business of sports and leaves fans with a bad taste in their mouths but like it or not it is part of the business model for European football and for every team in every professional sport world wide.
Actually, we learned a lot from James Benge in Tim’s piece. He’s not part of Auba’s PR, but is in fact well “on the in” with the club. We dont (we cant) know everything, but there is a lot of information out there about the facts of this situation. Ornstein, a journo with a good (nay, great) contacts book, has told us a heck of a lot.
Said earlier, and will say it again… It’s true that we don’t know everything that went down, but some gooners use that as an excuse to not acknowledge anything. It’s often said that folks “don’t know what they don’t know”. It seems to me that some “don’t want to know what you don’t know”. Read Zed’s post at 10.04am for as clear-eyed, balanced and unbiased a take as you will find.
And why are we dissing Aaron Ramsey 3 years after he left the club to make a point? Did you forget to mention Ozil? 🙂
Auba had a contract with Arsenal that Arteta personally pressed him to sign. You talk as if players award themselves contracts. They and clubs arrive at agreements driven by the market, and by circumstances. It does not make strong-arming them out of those agreements right. As SLC_Gooner mentioned, common sense would tell us that if Auba had f***** up in a really serious way, they’d have dismissed him, torn up the contract and dared him to sue. Come on. You’re an experienced guy.
Guess only after we see Auba deliver like prime Aubamayeng at Barca we might get an inkling.
Incidentally, as widely reported Auba was a no fuss and easygoing guy, accessible and helpful to the kids who idolised him, rather than Don Imperador . Dunno if he was , in a way downing tools in support of the kids at the end of some irascible treatment.
Guess we have to see how he does at Barca. They still move the ball up well, and been faltering at finishing. Auba is perfect for Barca and for his satisfaction to broadcast a lesson to those concerned.
I love 💕 the step the club has taken, for me this is change, an top for is coming This season, at the season start almost everyone wrote us off, now that drastic measures are taken, people are weeping , if everything that is happening is not clear to any one watch klopp’s promise a documentary about, sweeping anfield, dead wood(s) , the sakho, Nathaniel clyne, the sktel,and the average players, the list is almost endless, & no hard feelings January window is crap if you don’t know you should,
You’re as cold as ice…
https://www.arsenal.com/news/pierre-emerick-aubameyang-leaves-arsenal
Stay classy!
I hate that you put that song in my head.
What’s not classy? It’s a list of his accomplishments and a highlight reel of his goals, followed by a thank you. Should he get a parade, or a statue?
I think that’s a tone deaf comment considering the events that occurred prior to his departure but I’m not surprised. If you don’t agree with my comments just jog by.
DOC GOONER
Look there are plenty of comments earlier in this thread which eloquently summarise how the club briefed against the player on deadline day when it was manifestly clear the three parties were in negotiations. There was no need for it and it was not the behaviour I’d associate with Arsenal.
The other thing I don’t get it is why does this manager have to make everything so personal? Everyone I’m sure would agree that there has to be a boss and standards of behaviour but it doesn’t have to be personal. Look at some of the big departures under Wenger when his favourite players ran off to City or United or Barcelona. The exits of Cesc, RVP, Nasri must have cut him to the core but it was always handled in a professional, courteous basis. That doesn’t happen with Arteta.
Now let’s get to the rub. Sometimes I’ll write something serious, light-hearted or in jest. I always try and keep it respectful and apologies for the times I may not. Your response was sarcastic and follows a long-standing pattern of antagonism in response to my comments – as if you’re forever spoiling for an argument. So let’s be adults here as I have no interest in arguing with a stranger on the internet; either quit with the snarking or let’s agree not to read or respond to each other’s comments. I’m cool either way. Just want to draw a line under it and move on.
I’m surprised to see you go there so quickly. I haven’t even been on the boards much lately and that wasn’t much of an insult to you. You were clearly exaggerating to make your point and so was I. But fine, I’ll ignore you from now on if you prefer.
It’s quite simple: the relationship between player and coach broke down, the club had to choose between them and very logically chose the coach. It happens all the time in every sport. Usually it’s the coach that gets binned in that situation, so for him to come out on top against Ozil and then against Auba really solidifies his position in the locker room and beyond. Ozil was the more difficult one; he had a polished PR setup, was well entrenched at the club and had already survived one post Wenger appointment. Now though everyone who comes to Arsenal will know: mess around and you won’t play, period, and you know that because bigger fish than you tried and failed. Wenger set similar precedents in his early days. You think you’re too good for us Nicolas? Be on your way. It’s probably true that too much authority by any one man eventually turns sour, but authority is also essential if you want to move a complex organization in any kind of direction. It’s guaranteed some people will be left cold by any brand of leadership, whether because it’s too authoritarian or because it’s too democratic, too inclusive or not enough so. You can’t please everyone, and some people can only adapt so much. Leaving those people behind is the necessary cost of any institutional culture shift. Doing it in a morally sound but firm way is the mark of good leadership.
I’m not going to indulge too much pearl clutching about this. You want a winning team? You’ve got to make hard decisions. Sentiment can’t come into it. You have to do right by your people but you can’t indulge mediocrity in top level sport because it’s a cut throat business and you will be left behind. When Wenger ran the ship in the 2010s, sentiment abounded and that was wonderful in its own way, but it didn’t lead to trophies. His loyalty to the injured and to the underdog was legendary but ultimately futile. Every coin has two sides: you play nice, that’s great, you can go home and tell your mom and she will be proud of you, but you’re going to get bullied by the bigger kids and every year it gets worse because they know they will get away with it and eventually you lose your confidence and self respect. That is precisely where Arsenal were in 2019. We needed to toughen up and smarten up and that’s what decisions like this one tell the world we are doing.
I’m also not going to feel too awful for Aubameyang. He’s had a glittering career and was a success everywhere he’s been. His Arsenal story is over, but now he gets to try to write one last chapter at the highest profile club he’s ever played for. Bonne chance, Auba, et merci beaucoup.
To my horror, I’d have to agree with doc here.
I want Arteta and the board to do what’s best for Arsenal. We had developed a reputation of being too soft and lenient on players (This has been corroborated by multiple ex-players). Arteta expressed his intention to change that from the very beginning. Did he go overboard with it ? That’s debatable (I also think he applied different standards to different players based on his personal preferences, but that’s another discussion), but I appreciated the intention.
That said, there are times when players’ personal circumstances take precedence. When Saliba lost both his parents in a short span, I thought the club didn’t do enough to support him.
But I find it hard to feel sorry for a 32 year old professional being paid millions who thinks being tardy is fine.
Nicolas? As in Anelka? Wenger agreed to sell him because he was adamant he wanted to go to Real Madrid. He wasn’t pushing him out. He also made sure to get great value from the sale, and to have a replacement, only the greatest striker in the world, ready.
Which, even if you want to leave all sentimentality aside, is really why Arteta is acting for his authority rather than the club. A cult rather than a culture. When he benched Ozil, we spent a whole season pretending a No10 was a thing of the past, and creating very little. We since spent tens of millions on trying to add some creativity (Willian and then Odegaard). Now we’re setting aside the best goalscorer at the club and using him as some sort of anti-panacea (I’m sure there’s a better word for this but I think this is a better descriptor) for all that is wrong at the club. Whether the football (he doesn’t score any more) or the ‘culture'(unspoken/unspeakable crimes). It’s just getting by because they’ve made people believe that when things were better, they were actually worse, making all these otherwise harmful, classless actions, really truly necessary, good and even honourable.
People seem to have a fantasy understanding of how a football manager should operate and we (the club) are acting out that fantasy. It’s the thing everyone wanted Wenger to do whenever a player didn’t “act right”: force players to go train with the kids, force them out of the club, etc. It’s a nice theory and all and it has worked to get rid of three contracts that the owners gave out but didn’t really want but I think that the football world sees how Arsenal are acting and are starting to think that their clients should steer clear.
Anyway, next up will be an ignominious exit for Pepe. I’m sure his list of crimes will also be publicized so that some folks can sneer and say that the culture wars are being won. Then who next? Who next to take the blame for Arteta? Maybe Xhaka? Another red card and I’m guessing that we will suddenly hear that he’s not great at training or something.
How to feel like a winner?
Pick fights with people you have power over.
I had a random thought yesterday and ended up writing a twitter thread about how this is really a substitute for the lost escapism the game used to provide. Efficiency and industry are now valued more than artistry and eccentricity, and the players are merely useful cogs or irritants. Combined with the cult of the manager growing stronger, fuelled by FM games and behind the scenes scriptumentaries, the office and training field provides the magic now. Process. Culture. Stuff dreams are made of! The football? Oh that’ll take care of itself. The player is no longer the hero of this sport.
“I think that the football world sees how Arsenal are acting and are starting to think that their clients should steer clear.”
Maybe some will and I’m perfectly ok with that. Some players need a more relaxed vibe, some need more structure. You can’t please everybody. The ones who have the same sort of drive and discipline as Arteta will look at what we are doing and think: I want to be part of that. We have a young team playing good football in both phases, a rising force once again. Missing a few important pieces still but that will come. This is the most optimistic I’ve felt about our future prospects since oh, I don’t even know. Maybe when Ozil’s arrival signaled the end of austerity and we won an FA cup the next year and we had Wilshere and Ramsey shining.
I’m genuinely sorry you see it that way Shard. It must be hard to reconcile your love for the club with leadership that you so strongly dislike.
Yeah, it sucks. I’d still pick it over blissful ignorance though, so there’s that.
“When Wenger ran the ship in the 2010s, sentiment abounded and that was wonderful in its own way, but it didn’t lead to trophies.”
Just the three FA Cups and Community Shields, plus finishing top 4 in all but one season.
Yes you’re right, he did have the FA cups. What I should have said is that the club was no longer a serious threat for the premier league title or the champions league, that we had been relegated to a second tier club who couldn’t mix it with the big boys of the time. Of course Wenger’s sentimentality was not the sole or even chief reason for that and it did have its upsides as well. I’m sure many of the longer tenured posters will recall that I was his staunchest supporter to the bitter end. But it did come back to bite us too often and probably cost us around the margins, waiting for some of these young guys to develop into something they were never going to be or hoping for a miracle recovery from a litany of talented but permanently damaged players who through no fault of their own could not longer compete at the required level.
In organisational culture and many an organisation, some people confuse being a dick with being firm.
In the absence of evidence of any particularly egregious malfeasance (again, read Tim Todd on Benge in the above post), we are left to imagine brave cleansing of a muck hasn’t been defined, and has only been vaguely referred to. The evidence now seems clear that the club, to quote Zeddington, went scorched earth on something that did not merit it, because they sensed an opportunity to force an exit. “There are no pee tapes”. Thanks for stripping away the pretense. And it shouldn’t take a kid to tell the emperor that he’s in the altogether.
The question is, do I go with Dr Gooner’s characterisation of Aubameyang, or do I go with James Benge’s more nuanced one which I quoted earlier? It’s not hard. One is in a position to know the ins and outs of this situation; one is not. I say that with the greatest deference to the good doctor’s entitlement to a contrary opinion. And to Benge, though he was not an angel, he was (somewhat surprisingly), a more exemplary servant of the club than many imagine. There are no pee tapes. And the emperor isn’t wearing ermine.
Some gooners want Lacazette to sign. Laca, who had a ringside seat to the club’s treatment of two of his best friends. How do you think Laca sees his relationship with the club 1 and a half years into a possible new 2-year contract? I say good luck with that, but I guess we’ll see soon enough, won’t we? He may, still, if we make him an offer he can’t refuse. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
I’m sad that we the fans turn on players we used to laud, simply because the management has for craven expediency. And darn, to me, the principles of this matter are clear. How’s a section of the fan base going to feel about Martinelli in 7,8 years if he crosses what could be Arsenal’s second longest serving manager of the modern era? It’s not hard to imagine. Teddy Roosevelt said “if you got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.” We will see if that is a formula for success at AFC. And let’s remember how success is measured. By your results. By your results.
I yearn for the return of actual football, when the entire fan base is — blessedly for 2 hours — rowing in the same direction.
And by the way, MATTB, once the club issued its goodbye tribute, it was fitting and well done. It was a handsome tribute on twitter, to which Auba responded, simply, ❤️
And his goodbye on Instagram, with a photo of him surrounded by the team and lifting the FA Cup he was so instrumental in helping us to win, the club responded with a like.
Both club and player rose to the occasion and met the moment.
I was pleasantly surprised by this, and happy that it ended on a public note of respect at least. I hope Auba does well at Barcelona (a club I really really don’t like)
This has all the hallmarks of a man who has witnessed the Özil treatment desperate to get away from Arsenal Arteta‘s Isolation Programme let‘s call it AAIP for I fear we will see this model used again.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/feb/01/one-minute-to-midnight-inside-aubameyangs-late-dash-to-barcelona
No, there is no piss tape. My speculative view is that there was a breakdown because Arteta was asking a level of commitment and responsibility of Auba that Auba – a laid back, fun-loving, sincere and helpful guy – willingly promised him, but never really understood.
I understand why Arteta made him captain, he was the senior player, the biggest star, the biggest earner, and Arteta needed to rely on him. I think he thought he could push Auba into taking more responsibility on and off the pitch, but in the end that’s just not him.
He fundamentally didn’t get it, and Arteta, who was born accountable, who has turned up early for training every day his life, fundamentally didn’t get why he didn’t get it. In the end he was done trying to explain to Auba what he needed from him – but the fault kind of lies as much on Arteta and his expectations as it does on Auba.
The manager’s job is to assess who is suited for what and the best way to use them. If you’re looking for failures in Arteta’s man-management I think this a strong contender. Far from not tolerating strong characters or dissent, I think Arteta struggles to understand and accept people’s different attitudes towards responsibility. Auba needed to be laid back, relaxed and enjoy his football, and he wanted to take responsibility in other, softer, kinder ways (see Benge testimony).
I agree, this is the best outcome for all parties and I hope Auba rediscovers his joy – though I think he will face similar problems under Xavi. Xavi will ask him to take responsibility, work hard and set an example, Auba likes to please and will say yes.
My take too Greg. Auba has given himself a chance to regain some of that scoring instinct at Barca he lost to the positional and non-negotiable Guru at Arsenal. Like how he committed fully to getting a Barca deal for himself and how mainly Barca, but also Arsenal, facilitated that.
I don’t blame either of them to be honest. Sometimes the fit between player and coach is just not there and one or the other has to move on. They both tried to make it work, but it didn’t in the end. Auba goes with my thanks and respect. I’ll never forget his brace against City and whenever a right footed player goes to curl it from the left corner of the D I’ll think: Auba did that better!
Times of London is reporting that Auba’s payoff was £7m — slightly less than half a year’s pay — which tracks with what Ornstein reported. Club, player and new club are all meeting the cost of Auba’s wages for the rest of the season; then Barcelona will meet the cost of all of his wages thereafter.
People who support the club’s actions against the player were all over social media, saying how Arsenal saved £25m, and how wonderful that is. They saved a season’s wages, £18m, minus a transfer fee, however nominal/small. The players market value was ca. £10m. Make of that what you will. If you want to be generous in your accounting and say that he’d have fetched as little as £5m, the club got back the last year of his annual wage, minus that £5m, and are effectively paying him to play for Barca for the rest of this season. Auba is working for Barca on the promise of improved economics in the summer with more player departures; so while not sitting on his money at Arsenal is a financial risk to him, it is somewhat mitigated by Arsenal’s payoff.
They’re f****** bad stewards of money, Arsenal FC. Contracts are being allowed to run down, big signings are leaving for zero £, young players being shoved out the door at a fraction of their valuation and/or transfer fee, and the club is so bad at player relations that it is (again) effectively paying a player big money to play for someone else (Ozil left in January 2021, but got every penny of his contract, to June). They’re dickish without the rewards for being dickish, either in the team’s standings on the field, or in the club’s finances. And even their macho posturing in the press on TDD (he’s not getting a penny) was misleading.
There’s a really fascinating account by Sid Lowe in the Guardian of the down to the wire negotiations. It was not a transfer, as such. Auba had to become a free agent — tear up his Arsenal contract — before Barca could sign him. I see that he was at Barca team practice yesterday. What he needed was a long lie down after a mentally exhausting day.
Somewhat ironically, one of the few clubs that’s been worse at managing money than Arsenal is the one we just let Auba move to.
I get both sides of this debate over whether this was a good thing or not for Arsenal to do.
Good: saved 18m
Bad: paying 7m for Barcelona to have a striker that they couldn’t have afforded without our generosity
Good: getting a player out who was at the least a distraction and at most possibly a disruption
Bad: spending 7m and not getting any goals in return
I just hope Arsenal have learned two lessons:
1. Stop giving contracts to 30+ year old players
2. Stop paying outrageous salaries to free agent players
I take your general point around maximising return on player sales. The club has been bad at it, particularly with regard to young players (AMN, Nketiah, Mavropanos, Guendouzi). I’m not sure I agree in the case of Ozil or Aubameyang, though. Clubs look at the cost of both fee and wages when going after a player. If a player coming towards the end of their career and underperforming the value of their current contract, there comes a point where a player has effectively zero or even negative transfer value, in which case the current club has to pay them off (though players sometimes swallow a wage cut to get a move, that’s far from guaranteed).
Neither Ozil nor Auba were performing at a rate commensurate with their wage, and once the decision was (rightly or wrongly) made to cut bait with them, I’d argue that Arsenal were never going to get a fee. I think critique of the wisdom of the contracts they were given, and/or how the players were handled on the field is fair enough, but demanding a return on those players seems unrealistic to me.
You’re right. The likely transfer fee was a guess, and it is likely we wouldn’t have even that; quite possibly zero £. But we cant know for sure. And we cant do the accounting as if he was a zero asset on the transfer balance sheet. He wasn’t.
Tim, fair.
And hey, even the great Bergkamp had to live by that. I’ll just say though that when it gets to a situation of a high value player at the end of his contract, the club has little leverage if it really wants to keep the player. As a club, you have to try hard not to let it get to that point. Ramsey, Auba, Ozil, Laca and Nketiah (who, whatever you think of his abilities, has good value by virtue of his age) just to name a few.
Auba had been a joint golden boot winner, his goals were instrumental in us winning the FA Cup, he was red hot and his stock was sky high. He held the cards. We could have let him walk, yes, but replacing him would have cost the club at least 60m immediately (not counting wages), rather than 54m over 3 years. To me, it made sense. I don’t fault ArtEdu for signing off on that. I did not see many people calling it bad business at the time.
ArtEdu, on the other hand, had a stinker with Willian… 2 years older than Auba at the time of signing, and awarded 240k/week over a 3 year contract that would have taken him to 35 ys/o. They got lucky there. Willian tore up the last two years of his contract and — far as we know — walked away from £24m (12 + 12). Partey, as you said, is also on nosebleed wages. And if reports of what we offered Vlahovic are true, he would have been too (but he’s 21, so there).
Maybe the ruthlessness we should exercise is on the contracts and contract renewal side.
Klopp has the very same dilemma with Salah. He’s playing out of his skin but will he still be half as productive two yers from now?
As we look at things now, re-signing Salah seems a no-brainer. I’ve no problems with Mikel and Edu giving Auba the contract they did in 2020.
Me neither. Lbh Auba’s contribution to that FA Cup win bought them both a lot of latitude.
We’re on the same page – the ‘style’ of how some players are handled leaves a lot to be desired. Tim and Josh have touched on it but there’s likely some reputational consequences wrt future talent acquisition.
Time to move on. 17 games. MA’s team 100%. No excuses.
Eddie and Martinelli have a golden opportunity to shine as strikers. This is their moment to seize.
I have a feeling we are going to lose a TON of money on Saliba.
And money left on the table when Guendouzi exits.
If the owners want moneyball to work the optimum selling age is between 21-25.
I like the Chelsea model of ramping up the number of young loanees in the hope you can flip several at a significant premium.
I should have added – the optimum selling age range is 21-25 because that’s where the high value sales typically occur. For mthe club needs ap(and hopefully has) solid coaching and development plans to maximise the potential resale values of all players in that age band.
If Arteta and Edu has any sense, they’d offer him an extension ASAP.
He’s at least a 50M defender, imo.
It seems that many contributors seem to have forgotten that the style of play dictated by Arteta, simply did not suit Auba’s abilities and skills.
The concentration on crossing repeatedly from the wings, usually to an empty box seems to be the sum of Arteta’s tactical nous, which is far and away from the sort of ball that Auba needed to utilise the skill that brought him and us so many goals.
What is the point in employing an expert striker whose forte is running onto balls played into space in front him, when you dictate that your team should sit back and absorb pressure and then counterattack along the wings only.
The first stage of removing Auba was to dictate a style of play that did not fit into his skills.
The second stage, which was a direct consequence of the first, was to make him despondent and unhappy which may then have led to him to be rebellious to the straight jacket that Arteta wants placed around his players.
Once that happened, that gave Arteta the excuse to Ozil Auba in a way only he knows how.
You can be rest assured that, if Auba had not settled with them, as he did and was determined to stay, Arteta would have then initiated the next stage of Oziling, omission from the squad of players for the EPL.
Arteta having got away with it once,knew that the club would allow him to do it again.
So, in my view, Auba’s lack of form is not a result of his age or his own abilities, but simply because the style of play demanded by the manager did not suit him.
Finger pointing against Auba as it was against Ozil, who was also hamstrung by Arteta’s tactics, was unnecessary and unjust.
The players are better off away, and good luck to them, whilst we remain stuck with a manager who cannot manage and a coach who cannot coach.
I have said this before, but my interest in our club is waning and I know who is responsible and it is not Ozil or Auba.
Those who cannot see it remain plagued by the rose tinted sight that is corrupting their vision and judgement.
Agree with all of this. You have correctly identified The Process.
I wonder when this appeal to culture will end as an excuse for every action done by those at the club. Next season? What about risking top 4 this season? I don’t know, but like you I am also losing interest in the club. For all the complaints about negative fans, the real death knell is apathy.
Very few strikers can thrive in this Arsenal team. Put simply, we don’t create chances.
Even for a prolific striker, more chances increase the possibility of more goals. People who think we’ll get a new striker, he’ll create chances for himself and score over 30 goals will be disappointed.
Our attacking play is poor. It’s a bigger problem than getting a new striker. I bet a coach like Ten Haag or even Vieira gets more goals out of this team with the same personnel.
That is correct. 2 or 3 shots on target in a 90 minute game is a disgrace.
The irony is that the main reason why Auba was not put in a position to have chances was the absence of a midfielder capable of providing the passes he needed.
However, as Arteta did not want his midfield to do that, preferring the wing every time, he had no need or desire to have a midfielder who could provide those passes, hence the oziling.
Arsenal average 5.2 SoT per game and Wenger’s 2015/16 side averaged 5.6. We aren’t near the top teams (Liverpool average 7!) but I wouldn’t say we are a disgrace.
JJGSOL
I don’t see any possible reason to believe the Auba is different then any other Arsenal striker in this century and can somehow hold off the effects of his age. Do you really believe its just a coincidence that Auba’s dropoff corresponded to his age 31 and 32 season and there has not been an Arsenal striker who has not had a major loss of production by those ages even when playing for a chance creation manager like Arsene. During the first Emery season and the 2019/20 Emery/Arteta season you complained endlessly about how terrible and defense first our style of play was and how we lacked creativity and always attacked only down the wing and yet somehow Auba was a golden boot level striker and lead us to an FA cup for those 2 years. Somehow has history changed and we were really playing good football and creating lots of chances for Auba during those 2 years but we just did not know it? You can’t change what you said 2 years ago now because it no longer fits what you want to believe.
Statistics can be manipulated to suit the person who uses them.
Game after game after game we managed 2 or 3 shots on target and then played Sunderland or another weak defensive team when the numbers were high, and raised the average,
lol.. are you fucking kidding me? If this was just four games or something you might have a valid point but we’ve played 21 matches. Games with fewer than 5 shots on target this season: Brentford (4), Chelsea (3), Burnley (3), Liverpool (3), Everton (3), Brighton (2), Man City (2), Man City (0). And the big problems there are the obvious ones: Brentford, Burnley, Everton, and Brighton. In the other matches we were playing against the best teams in the league so our SoT numbers are bound to be low.
We’ve had 13 matches with 5 or more shots on target and the median number is 5, which is very close to the average, indicating a pretty good average indicator and not some wild swing of matches like you suggest.
The number of games with 4 or fewer are too many for my taste for sure but this is a far cry from what you’re claiming.
And just FYI, we didn’t play Sunderland this year and our best SoT games include Man U, Spurs, and West Ham (7 shots on target each). But maybe those are weak defensive teams in your mind.