So, it seems like a lot of our fans and particularly Piers Morgan, are sweating on the fact that Auba hasn't yet put pen to paper.
It seems pretty clear to me that the club has made promises to Aubameyang that we will improve the squad in key areas this window and he's waiting on a few signings to do the signing of his own, I don't believe for one minute that Barcelona will look to buy him to replace Messi, given the news that has been coming out of the club it looks like Koeman wants to shift out the older generation and build a new, young team for the future, Auba at 31, doesn't exactly fit that model - Lautaro Martínez having just turned 23, Mbappe or even Dybala would be more likely. Barcelona, apparently, do not have a huge amount to spend this Summer and given that Messi only has 1 year left on his contract, how much could they even get for him? £100m max I'd say given the Corona-Market and that's optimistic. Would they really chuck half of this on Auba? We'd surely want £50m minimum.
According to BBC: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53911105
"A legal battle is now set to follow between the club and the player. Messi had a clause in his contract which allowed him to leave for free, if he informed the club of his desire before 10 June.
That date has now passed so Barca believe the clause has expired, but Messi and his team feel it should be extended to cover the prolonged season - which ran until August due to the coronavirus pandemic."
So they may end up with nothing at all other than his wages off the bill.
The difficulty for us is we clearly need to sell players to fund more to come in and it's starting to look like it won't be until the end of the window when there will be a flurry of late activity and I feel like we've been there before and ended up scrapping around and signing players out of desperation that we never should have.
This is where we need Kroenke to wake up, step up and provide the money we need upfront to make deals happen now, particularly given that he'll surely get it all back towards the end of the Window. I'm tired of hearing this mantra when it comes to Arsenal transfers of 'using intelligence to play the market until the last moment', yes you need to spend your money wisely but there's nothing wise about spunking it away on panic-buys at the end of the window on players that aren't what you need. Yes there can be some good purchases towards the end but let's for once get the players we have identified as our priority targets and give them at least a little time to settle in over the next two weeks before the Premier League season commences.
Finally, dear Piers Morgan, if there's one Arsenal fan we don't need trying to convince Aubameyang to stay via Twitter - it's you. Even If all he's ever seen of you is when he's caught Good Morning Britain for a few minutes after switching on his TV in the morning, that would be enough to have him packing his bags and departing on the first flight to El Prat airport.
That poor woman Susanna Reid, she has the patience of a saint given the number of times you've rudely cut her off mid-sentence or simply dominated all the airtime and left her looking like a mime.
The Auba Holdup
posted on 27/8/20
comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 4 hours, 45 minutes ago
Are we so sure the hold up is on our side?
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Do you mean, are we so sure the hold up *isn't on our side? With our side being the club and the other side being Auba and his agent?
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 3 hours, 50 minutes ago
It's signed, they are just waiting to do some PR madness.
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DJ ITK? Well in that case... This went well
posted on 27/8/20
comment by You Can't Buy Class - IDHT2EU (U12019)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Jenius99 (U4918)
posted 4 hours, 45 minutes ago
Are we so sure the hold up is on our side?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you mean, are we so sure the hold up *isn't on our side? With our side being the club and the other side being Auba and his agent?
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Could be. Barca have a new manager and they are in a muddle over Messi. If he goes I could see them trying to get some instant goals.
posted on 27/8/20
Ah you mean are we so sure the hold up isn't being caused by another club, well in my opinion no because I don't believe Barca actually want Auba at 31 for that price, but it's just an opinion.
posted on 27/8/20
Can you imagine the sort of money Barca will get for selling Messi? And it will be £52m off their wage bill. I wouldn't be surprised if Auba's agent will delay just to see whats happening or if Barca has told him to wait for a bit. Personally I don't see Messi leaving and its all just a power play. But you never know if both parties get fed up with all the politics of it.
posted on 27/8/20
And in any case I think it was reported a few weeks ago that we have a one year option in his present contract anyway. If worst comes to worst I see us activating that option so he would actually have 2 years remaining.
posted on 27/8/20
As I said above, I really don't think they can get more than £100m in transfer fees for him if it came down to it given the market and the fact that he only has 1 year remaining on his deal.
Would they really do this to probably their favourite ever player who has served them for so long? By that I mean prevent him from moving by pricing him out of the market when they basically promised him he could leave for free if he wanted to?
Personally, I don't see it.
posted on 27/8/20
Messi would be first player to beat £200m landmark in my opinion even at his advanced age. There are only two clubs who can afford his finances. PSG and City. And neither are much bothered about Covid tbh.
I don't see Barca letting him go either. But if they were going to part ways then this would be an opportune moment. They are an ageing squad and other clubs need the money so the market is depressed. They could pretty much restock and still pay of some of their enormous debts.
posted on 27/8/20
Could well be the case, I'm hoping it's not though and he stays or at worst he goes for a smaller sum which would leave Barca less cash to splash.
Will be very interesting and potentially upsetting to see how this one plays out
Gotta say, even if Man City do sign him and he's incredible for them and elevates them even further from us, it'd be great to see him in the Premier League. I'm particularly interested to see whether he could transfer his usual form at 33 given how poor he's often been in international games.
posted on 27/8/20
Interesting that Arteta has said this afternoon that the deal with Aubameyang is not done.
posted on 27/8/20
*Concerning...