Has Aubameyang stopped trying since he signed a new Arsenal deal?

Stefan Bienkowski

• 11 Dec 2021 14:18 GMT
• 6 min read

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta confirmed on Saturday that star striker and club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had been dropped from the matchday squad for a disciplinary breach.

While the Spanish coach was unwilling to go into further details over the nature of Aubemeyang’s ban and how long it would last, it undoubtedly riled up Arsenal fans that have unfortunately grown accustomed to their captain being anything but exactly that.

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Indeed, despite the odd goal here and there, Aubameyang has been little more than a nuisance to Arteta’s plans for the team for some time now and with just four league goals in 14 appearances this season, it’s getting harder and harder to justify his role in the team.

And while there are a number of possible reasons for that, some have suggested that the former Borussia Dortmund star has simply stopped trying since he got his new contract.

Who is suggesting that?

While Aubameyang may have a number of critics among the Arsenal support, his most scaving critique came from a former Aston Villa striker in the form of Gabby Agbonlahor, who suggested that the striker would be playing 1000% better if he was still looking for a new contract.

“Aubameyang was poor. He wasn’t holding the ball up,” said the former striker on TalkSPORT after Arsenal’s draw with Brighton earlier in the season.

“It didn’t look like he had that pace to get in behind that Brighton defence and it was the right call to bring him off.

“When you are looking for a new contract, there is no lie, your performances are going to go up. Once the contract is signed, naturally you are going to take it down a gear, at least, that’s what you can see in Aubameyang’s performances since he has signed that contract.

“Where’s the hunger (on Saturday) say if he was still negotiating his contract for £300k-a-week? Let’s be honest, if he was still negotiating a contract, he would have got a better performance 1000% against Brighton.”

Is he correct?

Aubameyang signed a new contract with Arsenal on 15 September 2020 and when we look at his stats for the club before and after that date there does seem to be a clear contrast.

Prior to his new contract, the Gabon striker had scored 123 goals and bagged 31 assists in 111 games. Since he put pen to paper on a new deal he’s only scored 20 goals and picked up a further six assists in 52 games.

When we break that down to contributions per 90 minutes of football, it suggests that Aubameyang has gone from 1.05 goals and assists per 90 to just 0.59 per 90.

In the striker’s defence, he did catch and then get hospitalised by malaria following the signing of his new contract and may still be recovering from that illness. But the stats certainly suggest Aubameyang hasn’t been quite himself on the pitch in some time.