It is ‘fairly certain’ Arsenal will sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the summer, according to a report from the Daily Mail.

aubameyang v west ham
LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 09: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrates after he scores his sides third goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Arsenal FC at London Stadium on December 09, 2019, in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Rob Draper reports for the Daily Mail that it’s fairly certain Aubameyang will leave Arsenal next summer. The player only has a year left on his deal, and it’s seemingly more likely he’ll leave than extend.

The third option is obviously that Arsenal just hold onto the striker. Let him run down his contract and leave for free. Draper suggests that’s unlikely because of the financial difficulties Arsenal will face if they miss out on Champions League football again.

Just over a week ago, the Mirror wrote that Aubameyang is ‘ready to quit Arsenal’. They claimed the 30-year-old pulled out of contract negotiations amid frustration over the club’s direction.

Understandably, Aubameyang believes he’s running out of time in his career to win trophies. Despite reaching two finals, Arsenal haven’t won anything since he joined.

More to the point, those finals were the second-best domestic cup and the second-best European competition. The Gunners are hardly competing on the world’s biggest stages.

If Arsenal could make it back into the Champions League and maybe go on a cup run this season, they would have a much stronger case in any future negotiations. There’s a lot of work to do to make that happen though.