Aubameyang - yay or nay?

[DickDastardly]

Nay!

Lukaku should stay.

 

[AltiUn]

He's a very good player but I'm very wary of signing older players after the Sanchez/Schweinsteiger fiasco, especially a player whose best attribute will only decline with age. I think if we'd wanted Aubameyang we should've gone for him after we knew Ibrahimovic was never going to be the same. Like Squishy said, Solskjaer looks to be buying young, hungry, talented players building for the future, this type of signing goes against that. Also, as evidenced by Lukaku being benched, we want more from our strikers in the build up and again Aubameyang would be a step in the wrong direction if that were the case.

 

[RyRoc]

He's a very good player but I'm very wary of signing older players after the Sanchez/Schweinsteiger fiasco, especially a player whose best attribute will only decline with age. I think if we'd wanted Aubameyang we should've gone for him after we knew Ibrahimovic was never going to be the same. Like Squishy said, Solskjaer looks to be buying young, hungry, talented players building for the future, this type of signing goes against that. Also, as evidenced by Lukaku being benched, we want more from our strikers in the build up and again Aubameyang would be a step in the wrong direction if that were the case.

His best attribute is his movement and anticipation inside the box, I get why people think it’s his pace but if you look at the 40 odd goals he’s scored for Arsenal in the last 18 months, 2 or 3 max will be because of his raw speed. He’s a far smarter footballer than most think.

 

[AltiUn]

His best attribute is his movement and anticipation inside the box, I get why people think it’s his pace but if you look at the 40 odd goals he’s scored for Arsenal in the last 18 months, 2 or 3 max will be because of his raw speed. He’s a far smarter footballer than most think.

Yeah you're right, I know it's not his primary attribute but it's a huge part of his game which is why I mentioned it.

 

[Marrakesh]

Far better goalscorer than Rashy. If lukaku does one and we can get Aub for around 50m, Im all for it.

 

[Gopher Brown]

No, there are far better options out there who are likely to be less expensive and, more importantly, younger. He’s quite good, but he’ll go off a cliff in a year or so.

Lacazette on the other hand has always struck me as a bit slow and clumsy, and I wouldn’t want him either.

 

[Needham]

Nay. More confirmation we're just a boutique club for non-elite pay day hunters.

 

[OutlawGER]

He actually did better for Arsenal than I was expecting. I'd happily take him for the right price, but I'm pretty sure they'd want too much for him considering his age.

Why is he so underrated over here? For Dortmund he consistently challenged Lewandowski for the golden boot. And seemingly he is doing well for Arsenal too. He's a goal machine.

 

[Bearded One]

Some of you never learn. How many people shouted Lukaku and Morata because of age now we want to offload Lukaku who we bought for a very hefty sum. A player's youth is only relevant to the extent of their abilities. Why aren't we willing to give Lukaku more time even though he's relatively young? Because we have to get back to our winning ways latest today if its impossible to do that yesterday.

For those shouting "age", I'd like to briefly remind you about thd player that helped us to our last title win. Remind me how old he was again? Did he stay for five seasons? I'm surprised that some of us wouldn't take Auba in this state that we are in now.

Goodluck to us.

 

[Bearded One]

Why is he so underrated over here? For Dortmund he consistently challenged Lewandowski for the golden boot. And seemingly he is doing well for Arsenal too. He's a goal machine.

I think there's an agenda against Auba. He is constantly berated and people say he misses chances a lot. Who doesn't? Guess what, every season he's always top scorer or close second top scorer. This cannot be luck. He's got speed, an aerial threat and some dribbling ability. He is a versatile forward not just a target man and plays from wide often. He fits OGS's idea of a forward pretty well and has an eye for goal.

I'd rather we get some level of matured heads along with youngsters with potential rather than a bunch of inexperienced lads with promise which may never be realized anyway. Never foget that we have to settle a sinking ship as a matter of priority.

 

[sullydnl]

Some of you never learn. How many people shouted Lukaku and Morata because of age now we want to offload Lukaku who we bought for a very hefty sum. A player's youth is only relevant to the extent of their abilities. Why aren't we willing to give Lukaku more time even though he's relatively young? Because we have to get back to our winning ways latest today if its impossible to do that yesterday.

For those shouting "age", I'd like to briefly remind you about thd player that helped us to our last title win. Remind me how old he was again? Did he stay for five seasons? I'm surprised that some of us wouldn't take Auba in this state that we are in now.

Goodluck to us.

Lukaku is a great example of the benefits of signing a young player. Even having flopped pretty badly here he is still worth £60m+ and attractive to a side like Inter.

As opposed to Sanchez, someone who is of a more comparable age profile to Auba. Sanchez also flopped here but, unlike Lukaku, does not have any resale value, has next to no chance of finding his own best form again, is far harder to get rid of and was a far costlier mistake as a result.

That's the problem with signing a 30 year old for big money.

 

[haram]

I think there's an agenda against Auba. He is constantly berated and people say he misses chances a lot. Who doesn't? Guess what, every season he's always top scorer or close second top scorer. This cannot be luck. He's got speed, an aerial threat and some dribbling ability. He is a versatile forward not just a target man and plays from wide often. He fits OGS's idea of a forward pretty well and has an eye for goal.

I'd rather we get some level of matured heads along with youngsters with potential rather than a bunch of inexperienced lads with promise which may never be realized anyway. Never foget that we have to settle a sinking ship as a matter of priority.

I don't think he has ever scored with his head for Arsenal. He does not have an aerial threat and is a limited player. He missed the most clear chances in the league last season, he disappears, does not add anything to general play and on top of that Lacazette won player of the year ahead of him. Imagine winning the golden boot and the other striker still wins player of the year. Says it all.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Nope. He's better than Lukaku but now 30 and heavily reliant on his pace.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

bring back Chicharito instead

 

[criticalanalysis]

He would score bucket loads with Pogba feeding him.

He would instantly improve the team.

Not a 'leader' on the pitch (which we are severely lacking in) but you cannot doubt his quality in front of goal.

 

[Scholsey2004]

I'd rather we pick up a good youngster from the championship.

 

[croadyman]

I feel a bit mixed about this one because he did score plenty of goals last season,however just worry he goes missing in the big games and cannot see Arsenal selling to us again.

Can also understand people's reservations about his age but we got RVP later in his career too.

 

[RyRoc]

I don't think he has ever scored with his head for Arsenal. He does not have an aerial threat and is a limited player. He missed the most clear chances in the league last season, he disappears, does not add anything to general play and on top of that Lacazette won player of the year ahead of him. Imagine winning the golden boot and the other striker still wins player of the year. Says it all.

He missed the most clear cut chances in the league yet still finished as joint top scorer (only 3 penalties). This is despite his service being a half assed Ozil , and mainly cutbacks from average full-backs whilst also some decent link up play from Lacazette. Getting chances is not just luck , the amount of chances Aubameyang gets is not solely down to his service - a lot of it because of his movement and anticipation - it is right up their in the best in the league and a very underrated quality he has - far more important than his pace for example.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

A slow Auba is still faster than the majority of PL players.So for me his pace isnt a concern.
What I do question is the other aspects of his game. For the majority of the games I watched last season I felt Lacazette made the partnership shine more so than Auba.

 

[Ooge_]

Nay. The last thing ManUtds needs is another extravagant lad.

 

[TwoSheds]

Surely this depends on the price. £40m or less and it's got to be worth thinking about. Can also play RW and would be good to take the pressure off Rashford.

 

[LonelyFire]

9/10 times this would be a completely non-sensical deal but I think there is a bit of logic to it given current circumstance.

Ole clearly rates Rashford and the club has high hopes for Greenwood. Most Utd fans if they are being honest know Rashford is not quite ready to be the automatic first choice - his goal return is just not good enough...yet
(I believe he will improve). Bringing in a proven top level goal scorer who is at their peak makes sense and Aubameyang is more suited to Utd than Lukaku is.

Will it happen? Probably not. Is there some logic to it? Yes.

 

[Camilo]

He's an excellent player, maybe the best "classic" striker in the game, but the only reason a player of his age comes to us right now is money, and if that's the sole motivation we should always stay clear.

 

[Kemizee]

No, there are far better options out there who are likely to be less expensive and, more importantly, younger. He’s quite good, but he’ll go off a cliff in a year or so.

Lacazette on the other hand has always struck me as a bit slow and clumsy, and I wouldn’t want him either.

Like?

 

[Shaidabdullah Hussain]

Always been a big fan of ObamasWang

 

[Bearded One]

I don't think he has ever scored with his head for Arsenal. He does not have an aerial threat and is a limited player. He missed the most clear chances in the league last season, he disappears, does not add anything to general play and on top of that Lacazette won player of the year ahead of him. Imagine winning the golden boot and the other striker still wins player of the year. Says it all.

Maybe its the way Arsenal plays but I recall he used to score a good number of headed goals at BVB. Don't know the rationale for giving Laca the award ahead of him but he's a superior forward to Laca. I want you and Arsenal fans to quote me on this. Laca holds up the ball well for others but there's not much else. Without Auba's goals Arsenal would not even be close to Europa.

Also, many-a-times the manager played him out of position to accomodate him and Laca in the same team.

 

[MrSingh2002]

Not at this time now. The time to sign Auba has passed. He's probably had his best years so lets look to other targets. It's no secret my favourite target would be 23 year old Piatek. High level finisher that can score all kinds of goals. Exactly what we want. Old school centre forward with great movement.

 

[Bearded One]

He missed the most clear cut chances in the league yet still finished as joint top scorer (only 3 penalties). This is despite his service being a half assed Ozil , and mainly cutbacks from average full-backs whilst also some decent link up play from Lacazette. Getting chances is not just luck , the amount of chances Aubameyang gets is not solely down to his service - a lot of it because of his movement and anticipation - it is right up their in the best in the league and a very underrated quality he has - far more important than his pace for example.

Awesome post. His movement is top notch and so he gets a lot of scoring opportunities through that. He misses chances yes but even Sterling of man city does yet was voted 2nd best player in the league. He doesn't get the level of service that would warrant top scorer in mighty epl and yet he got it. If you need goals, Auba is your man.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Awesome post. His movement is top notch and so he gets a lot of scoring opportunities through that. He misses chances yes but even Sterling of man city does yet was voted 2nd best player in the league. He doesn't get the level of service that would warrant top scorer in mighty epl and yet he got it. If you need goals, Auba is your man.

Sterling is so much better with the ball than Auba, hence you can forgive some of the missed chances. He's actually doing stuff when he isn't scoring, which is what most modern teams demand from their forwards.

Auba is a liability when he's not on the scoresheet, totally invisible. And he got more than enough chances to get top scorer in the league and scored more penalties than any of the other contenders I believe, he was just actually pretty wasteful in a number of games. It was also a pretty poor year for top scorer with Kane getting two serious ankle injuries, Salah dropping down a level and sharing the goals more with Mane, and Aguero also having injury issues of his own.

 

[Dec9003]

Despite Aubas obvious flaws, getting 22 goals in the league is nothing to scoff at, especially not given our lack of goals the last few years.

 

[Bearded One]

Lukaku is a great example of the benefits of signing a young player. Even having flopped pretty badly here he is still worth £60m+ and attractive to a side like Inter.

As opposed to Sanchez, someone who is of a more comparable age profile to Auba. Sanchez also flopped here but, unlike Lukaku, does not have any resale value, has next to no chance of finding his own best form again, is far harder to get rid of and was a far costlier mistake as a result.

That's the problem with signing a 30 year old for big money.

Well it depends on what your priorities are. If you want to make money as a matter of priority above all else maybe I'd agree with you. If we had signed him instead of Lukaku couple of years ago before he was 30 he'd be on his second season with us. I'm not suggesting that we go ahead signing 30 year olds but when you have a choice to sign Lukaku (24), Auba (28) and Morata (24), more than anything you should be concerned about who will likely add the best value on the pitch rather than who will give us the best resale value. All this of course assuming you are a team that wants to win stuff becauee not all clubs are in that category.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Despite Aubas obvious flaws, getting 22 goals in the league is nothing to scoff at, especially not given our lack of goals the last few years.

He's clearly a decent goalscorer. But he's 30 and will want a big, probably quite long contract to tie himself over.

The likelihood is you might get a good season or two out of him (depending on whether he does a Sanchez) and then you're stuck with someone on a huge contract you can't budge.

I really don't think that is something you want.

 

[Bearded One]

Despite Aubas obvious flaws, getting 22 goals in the league is nothing to scoff at, especially not given our lack of goals the last few years.

Well said and given that he's been doing this year in year out.

 

[Bearded One]

Sterling is so much better with the ball than Auba, hence you can forgive some of the missed chances. He's actually doing stuff when he isn't scoring, which is what most modern teams demand from their forwards.

Auba is a liability when he's not on the scoresheet, totally invisible. And he got more than enough chances to get top scorer in the league and scored more penalties than any of the other contenders I believe, he was just actually pretty wasteful in a number of games. It was also a pretty poor year for top scorer with Kane getting two serious ankle injuries, Salah dropping down a level and sharing the goals more with Mane, and Aguero also having injury issues of his own.

I hope you know that the players you mention are the very best in the league so that in itself is a compliment to Auba. Laca that you mentioned for example is not even close to the league of these players and neither is Lukaku (with all due respect). He played very similar minutes to Aguero (who himself had myriads of chances arguably more than Auba given the quality of players around him) but scored more.

Also note that Aguero almost always played in his favoured posotion whilst Laca sometimes played and sometimes started from the bench so it would be unfair to discredit his numbers given that he always gave prime Lewandowski a run for his money as far as goal scoring is concerned.

Rather than explain his numbers away I think we should try and understand why he scores a lot of goals comparable with elite players even though h s not quite in the elite bracket.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

I hope you know that the players you mention are the very best in the league so that in itself is a compliment to Auba. Laca that you mentioned for example is not even close to the league of these players and neither is Lukaku (with all due respect). He played very similar minutes to Aguero (who himself had myriads of chances arguably more than Auba given the quality of players around him) but scored more.

Also note that Aguero almost always played in his favoured posotion whilst Laca sometimes played and sometimes started from the bench so it would be unfair to discredit his numbers given that he always gave prime Lewandowski a run for his money as far as goal scoring is concerned.

Rather than explain his numbers away I think we should try and understand why he scores a lot of goals comparable with elite players even though h s not quite in the elite bracket.

He's a great goalscorer, I've never denied it. The problem is that most of the other players in that list offer more off the ball than Auba, and that's why they're rated higher. He's a world class goalscorer but not a world class footballer.

Lukaku at Everton was getting more goals than that, he's a great goalscorer as well when he's a regular in a side which plays to his strengths. Arsenal do play to Auba's strengths but in a team which doesn't or an elite side he would struggle because he's not an elite all round footballer, hence why he sometimes got dropped for Arsenal. Lacazette scores less but offers more to the team.

Aguero also came off the bench a lot, had injury issues, and offers far more all round to the team than Auba. Guardiola wouldn't tolerate a striker like Aubameyang leading the line for him, he doesn't contribute enough to the team, he even had issues with Aguero for this until he changed up his game, but Aguero has always been a far better footballer than Aubameyang who has a couple of elite level skillsets but is lacking in several areas. There's a reason a team like Arsenal who were outside of the CL were able to pick him up unchallenged.

Nobody is discrediting his goalscoring, he clearly bangs them in. He's a good finisher with world class movement and is one of the best in the world at getting in behind defences. Like I said, he's a slightly upgraded Gabonese Jamie Vardy but without the work rate off the ball. That isn't what a lot of the top sides want in a striker leading the line. His goalscoring is comparable with elite players, but not the rest of his game.

The time to pick him up would have been when he left Dortmund, now he'd cost more, would probably demand more in wages, and is a year older and now in his thirties. It would scream stupid, short term transfer for a player who will get you goals but is not some RvP level forward where you can ignore the age because he's pure class. And if there's any truth to this story whatsoever then you have to question why Arsenal would want rid of their top goalscorer only a season in to his contract, you get rid of players you don't want to increase a war chest, not a key man.

 

[Stookie]

Far better goalscorer than Rashy. If lukaku does one and we can get Aub for around 50m, Im all for it.

I think Arse would want more.

 

[Darlington Padgett]

Isn't Lacazette a better fit?

 

[mitchmouse]

He's a very good player but I'm very wary of signing older players after the Sanchez/Schweinsteiger fiasco, especially a player whose best attribute will only decline with age. I think if we'd wanted Aubameyang we should've gone for him after we knew Ibrahimovic was never going to be the same. Like Squishy said, Solskjaer looks to be buying young, hungry, talented players building for the future, this type of signing goes against that. Also, as evidenced by Lukaku being benched, we want more from our strikers in the build up and again Aubameyang would be a step in the wrong direction if that were the case.

van persie was only a few months younger when we signed him!

 

[AltiUn]

van persie was only a few months younger when we signed him!

I know but van Persie was a bit different, he’d just come off the back of an amazing season at arsenal and was technically outstanding all for a very reasonable price. He was the best striker in the league so it was a no brainier really.

 

[mitchmouse]

I know but van Persie was a bit different, he’d just come off the back of an amazing season at arsenal and was technically outstanding all for a very reasonable price. He was the best striker in the league so it was a no brainier really.

agreed but you mentioned you were worried by Aubameyang's age. Depending on the fee and his salary, I think this might be worth the risk; I can't see us getting a big-name forward and this guy had a pretty good season. My guess is the thing is a non-starter anyway