Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s struggles at Arsenal is a big concern for Mikel Arteta.
Since being rewarded with a £350,000-per-week contract extension, the forward’s form has dipped a significant level.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, speaking on Sky Sports, said: “I think there will be a big worry at Arsenal and for Mikel Arteta that they may have another Mesut Ozil situation where they give someone a big contract at £300,000 or £350,000-a-week.
“Next season and in these coming months that will be going through the manager’s mind.
“Have we got another situation like that? Because what he is producing right now is nowhere near good enough considering how good a player he is and also what Arsenal have invested in him.
“I think Aubameyang’s performances this season have been lazy, at times. I don’t care how many goals he gets – he’s won Golden Boots in the past – but he’s definitely a player who doesn’t bring anything to this team if he doesn’t score a goal, and that’s a big problem.”
Mikel Arteta still has faith in his star forward. He said, “It is easy to connect things like that, but I am not suspicious of that. We have had conversations about what he wanted to do from last year’s point of view to his near future in the next two years, and he was ambitious with that.
“We talked for months about the ratio of goals we need him to score to give us the best possible chance of being at the top. It has not been what it has been in recent years and it’s a factor that is contributed to by a lot of things that the team has to do on the pitch. It is not just his thing.
“But obviously we need Auba in a different form in the next games to give us our best chance to finish where we want to finish the season, that’s clear.”
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