Mikel Arteta admits he initially doubted whether Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would sign a new contract with Arsenal and that the player also had misgivings before being won round.
Aubameyang’s three-year deal was confirmed on Tuesday and put to bed months of speculation about the club captain’s future. It means Arteta can work in the knowledge he has retained his prize asset, but the situation when he took charge last December was less straightforward.
“At the start, when I joined, I wasn’t as positive as I was a few weeks ago,” he said. “Obviously financially we were in a position where it was difficult to get what we wanted to get, and I think Auba had his doubts at the time.
“But things evolved in a natural way and I had a feeling that the club wanted to move forward. I had a feeling that Auba wanted to stay here and we were just trying to put those things together, and that can sometimes take time, but if the outcome is what we both wanted then we’re happy.”
Arteta said Aubameyang’s future had been “a thing that was worrying me” given the near-impossibility of replacing a striker who has scored 72 times in 111 appearances. “Everyone was hoping for Auba to stay but it was creating some uncertainty around the place,” he said. “Obviously it is great to finish that speculation, move on and find some stability.”
Talks with Aubameyang’s representatives intensified during the Covid-19 shutdown and Arteta explained things began “evolving positively”. He said: “It was a conversation I had with Auba first, privately, and [then] with his father and agent. It is incredible how necessary these conversations are to understand each other’s position and what happened in the past, things that annoyed people, things that have made people feel important and part of the process. After those two conversations I felt we had a good chance because I felt a really good connection and a strong feeling they wanted to continue with us.”
Arsenal sold Emiliano Martínez to Aston Villa for £20m this week and Arteta emphasised they parted ways “on really good terms”. Martínez had shone when standing in for Bernd Leno last season but it left Arsenal with two 28-year-old keepers who felt they should play. “That created a big competition, some big expectations from both of them, and we had to deal with that,” he said.
Arteta said Arsenal should “shortly be in a position to announce a new signing”, understood to be the Dijon goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson, in that position. Arsenal have also seen bids rejected for Brentford’s David Raya and the manager did not not deny two keepers were on his shopping list. The third-choice goalkeeper, Matt Macey wants to seek first-team football elsewhere.
David Luiz is back in full training after missing the win at Fulham with a neck spasm and could be in contention to face West Ham on Saturday.