Following reports over the past weekend that Arsenal are resigned to losing Aubameyang and will listen to offers, the latest update from Spain may come as a bit of a surprise. According to the newspaper Sport, Aubameyang’s camp was assessing offers from other clubs – with the likes of Madrid and Barcelona linked – and Arsenal too were open to selling to avoid losing him on a free, but in a surprise turnaround it seems he is “approaching his renewal”.

More from the Spanish paper, translated and interpreted by Sport Witness, below:

“Everything indicated the 30-year-old would leave the Gunners, but the report states the ‘situation would have changed’. The latest clue came from his father’s Instagram profile after Aubameyang Sr posted a picture of his son signing the first Arsenal contract, with a caption ‘You know what you have to do bro’. According to Sport, this message has been taken as a ‘statement of intent by the Aubameyang family’ to extend the player’s stay in north London.”

Sport Witness

The Spanish paper also claims that Aubameyang’s favored destination was Barcelona. However, there is no further explanation of why exactly the Gabon forward has decided to stay at the Emirates. We can only guess that the big clubs eyeing Aubameyang were not able to impress him with their offers.

Last season’s Golden Boot winner, who took almost no time to settle into the Premier League since he joined in January 2018, would certainly offer a lot to a number of big teams, but it is possible that those teams prefer younger strikers and therefore would not go all-out to meet Aubameyang’s demands (we can only guess). For example, Madrid have been repeatedly linked to Mbappe and Erling Haland, besides Aubameyang.

This news would certainly come as a huge boost to Arsenal, who will be able to channel their focuses and finances towards other areas in the team. However, we have yet to see how the English media will respond. So far, sources in England have been strongly leaning towards an Aubameyang departure.

Header: Chensiyuan, 2018