Kenyan legend Mike Kisaghi has opined Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang should leave the club for greener pastures ‘if they cannot pay him what he wants.”
The future of the Gabon star, who finished the season as Arsenal’s top scorer and joint-second in the Premier League with 22 goals, has been up in the air throughout the season, after being linked to various clubs.
There are fears the North London club will be required to cash in on Aubameyang this summer if he refuses to put pen to paper, rather than risk losing him for nothing in a year’s time.
The 31-year-old club captain has just one year left on his deal at the Emirates and is understood to be a seeking £250,000-a-week salary.
The Gunners striker has been strongly linked with a transfer to Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid for a price as low as £20million.
Kisaghi, who played for Gor Mahia in the Kenyan Premier League (KPL), believes winning trophies should not be considered as a key factor for Aubameyang to decide his future but he should instead look at what the Gunners are offering him financially.
“Number one it’s all about if he feels really wanted at Arsenal, that is clear, he is needed considering his goal returns since he joined,” Kisaghi, who also played for Kenya’s Harambee Stars, told Goal on Wednesday.
“Two is about how he wants his contract to read. He is in his thirties and that’s the age of when a strikers’ graph starts to bend downwards, so he has to sign a big contract – moneywise.
“Is the club ready to give it to him [a new contract] as much as they need him? A question Arsenal has to answer, he wants a big payday, forget about wanting to win trophies, that’s a scarecrow, not the real reason.
“He has won trophies at Borussia Dortmund with Jurgen [Klopp] and if the club can’t pay him what he wants, well there are clubs which are able to pay him better, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, and Inter Milan. It’s all in Arsenal’s hands now.”
