So today’s big football news is Harry Kane announcing he had decided to remain at Tottenham next season.
Well when he says it was his decision, it was not really. If it was up to him he would have left but:
- Man City did not want to pay what Daniel Levy was demanding
- PSG had signed Lionel Messi
- Real Madrid are chasing Kylian Mbappe
- Chelsea had signed Romelu Lukaku
- Manchester United are waiting for Erling Haaland next summer
- Barcelona are broke
So it was not really that Kane wants to stay, more than all doors have shut on them.
But with Manchester City still needing a replacement for Sergio Aguero, what could the repercussions of the Kane deal falling through?
Aubameyang to Manchester City
Could Arsenal’s captain find himself playing up front for the Premier League champions?
It is a deal that could certainly happen in the closing days…
Man City need a striker
With Aguero’s departure, it left Man City with Gabriel Jesus.
Chelsea have signed Lukaku and the Belgium has transformed them.
The feeling is that with Lukaku upfront, Chelsea are favourites for the title. But if Man City signed Kane the pendulum would swing back to them.
No Kane leaves Man City still n the hunt for a front man. And it could end up costing them the title.
The club will remember when in 2012/13 Manchester United pipped them to Robin van Persie.
It was van Persie’s goals that drove United to the title. The 66 goals scored by Man City that season is their lowest in the last decade.
Man City would have learned their lesson and will know to harbour hopes of the title, the need a striker.
Arsenal are open to selling
Speculation has increased in recent days about Arsenal being open to selling Aubameyang.
The striker was hopelessly out of form last season having just signed a new £350,000 a week deal.
In the last 12 months he has appeared moody, disinterested and disruptive. There have been reports of disagreements between himself Mikel Arteta. There has also been a couple of discipline problems.
There is a feeling Arsenal could have another Mesut Oil on their hands – you most highly paid player, the clubs talisman, underperforming to the point that he does not even command a first team start.
You do feel that if an offer comes in for Aubameyang, he could be off.
Wages
The big issue for most clubs is Aubameyang’s wages – £350,000 a week. But this would not be a problem for Manchester City.
This was similar to what Aguero was on, and what they were reportedly willing to offer Harry Kane.
Man City have a bottomless pit of money so offering Aubameyang a 3 year deal (so a 1-year extension on his current Arsenal deal) would not be an issue.
It would be a deal just like that which took van Persie to Man U.
The club would know they are getting him for one, maybe two seasons, and would just have to absorb those wages for another year or two. But if his goals fired them to the league title next season the move would be a success.
No one talks about van Persie’s two average years at Man U; they only speak about the year he won them the title.
Transfer fee
I would imagine an offer in the region of £20million would be enough for Arsenal to part ways with Aubameyang.
That would be money instantly available to help Arsenal finance a replacement – whether it be another striker of a winger.
Getting his salary off the wage bill is the most important thing.
At £350,000 a week, Aubameyang costs the club £18.2million a year. We are already committed to spend that over the next 2 years.
We could go out into the market and spend £50million on a left winger and pay them £150,000 a week on a 5-year-deal.
That would cost us £7.8m a year in wages and £10million a year in amortised salary.
The total deal would cost Arsenal £17.8m a year – £400k less than Aubameyang currently costs.
Who would replace Aubameyang at Arsenal
The headache for Arsenal would be who to replace Aubameyang with.
An argument could be made that Arsenal could play Alex Lacazette upfront with Gabriel and Folarin Balogun backing him up. But then Lacazette has just 1-year left on his contract.
In this scenario, we would therefore need Lacazette to sign a new deal – but how of the Aubameyang saving would then need to go to keeping Lacazette?
On a side note, Willian expected to leave us as well, that is another huge chunk of wages gone. Lacazette’s new deal could come from the savings made from the Brazilian leaving.
So instead of replacing Aubameyang the striker, we could look at replacing Aubameyang the winger and strengthening the left hand side.
Long term target Houssem Auoar could play out there with the freddom to cut inside ala Robert Pires. Alternatively the club have been looking at Marcus Thuram if they want to go down the pace and power route.
Both of these players would cost Arsenal significantly less than the £50million mentioned above, and certainly would not break the bank in wages.
You could even bring in Raheem Sterling in a Alexis Sanchez / Henrikh Mkhitaryan style swap.
Summary
It is a deal that I can see happening, but has a lot of factors:
1) Man City need to be in a position where they have no other options
2) Arsenal need to secure Lacazette to a new contract
3) Arsenal need to have a replacement lined up
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 