This is going to be a controversial one!
This is probably the best season of Lacazette with us. He has scored 11 goals in 25 appearances this season and assisted another 2. That’s 0.4 goals per match and a goal every 148 minutes. It may not sound a big thing but it’s much better than our best player of last 2 season, Aubameyang. In comparison, Auba has scored 9 in 24 matches which returns a goal every 215 minutes.
In the past, Arteta has neither confirmed not denied anything about his future contract. Here’s what he had to say when asked if Laca will leave this summer –
He’s got a contract with us. He played really well the other week. It’s exactly what we demand him to do. I’m really happy with him and the discussions about his contract will happen soon and we will see what happens.
source:arsenal.com
and when forced again –
Well, I’m hoping that a player under contract will continue with us. Every case is different and we’re going to assess that and we’ll make a decision in relation to that.
source:arsenal.com
This is in contrast to what Mikel used to say about Auba last season. He was pretty clear of working with the club and Auba for extension and he wanted to keep him at any cost, which we did ultimately.
There’s couple of things though, which I believe should be considered before any contract extension discussions.
Lacazette is 29 and will be entering his final year of contract coming season. We have already a senior CF in Auba, who is shifted to flank to make space for Laca. Do we need to do it when we have options in Martinelli & Pepe to cover? I would rather prefer Auba in his best position with Pepe covering in Left and Saka in right. We have Willian too on a 3 year(!) contract who can cover the position.
Another reason is, we renewed Auba’s contract last season when he was our best player, scored second highest no. of goals (22) in Premier League, helped the team in winning FA Cup and was simply magnificent in every game he played; but he has been a shadow of himself this season. Willian had a great season in Chelsea shirt before getting a 3 year contract here. We should stop signing/giving extension players on high wages with no resale value.
IMO, we can utilize the money we get by selling Laca to buy an attacking midfield player to support Partey. Martinelli and Balogun can be given game time to develop and replace him and ultimately Auba in coming years.
We are in a re-build and you don’t do it with 30year old on high wages of 200k/week who can decide to switch off anytime they want (Auba, Willian – for most of the season). We can’t say the same for Lacazette, he always gives his 100% but I would rather see ESRs, Sakas’ and Odes’ in the rebuild.
Over to you, let me know what you think in the comments!
