Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was ready to leave Arsenal before Mikel Arteta persuaded him to sign a new deal in 2020 - a move that never worked out for either party.
The Gunners forward was the leading light at the Emirates and there had been continued talk over whether he would pen a fresh contract and extend his stay in north London. Aubameyang topped the scoring charts for Arteta's side and continued to come up with big moments.
His brace against Chelsea in the FA Cup final secured Arteta's only major trophy to date, which came after he'd also scored in the semi-final win over Manchester City.
Aubameyang admits, amid all the calls for him to extend his stay, he chatted with then team-mate Alexandre Lacazette and confessed he was torn on whether to remain with Arsenal or seek a new challenge elsewhere.
He told The Athletic: “If I’m being honest, at that time I wanted to go. For me, it was time to find a new challenge. I did my time. It was very nice, but I needed to change. It had been four years, I did great and maybe it was time to leave it like this, proper and clean, so people remember me as a good Arsenal player. I felt I needed to go because if I stayed, something would go wrong.”
Aubameyang went on to hold what he described as a “very refreshing” meeting with Arteta. Together the pair discussed the team, players, the need to recruit, staff and ways of working.
The Gabon striker added: “He convinced me. He said, ‘I think you can leave a legacy’. I think it was the first time I heard this word in English. He said, ‘If you stay, you can be an icon, like the big names at Arsenal’. I started to change my vision. He and the fans convinced me to stay. But at first, I wanted to leave. This is where it got chaotic, because when you go against your heart, maybe this is where I made my mistake.”
After choosing to remain with Arsenal Aubameyang posted his worst ever goal tally in a full season in north London. That season also saw the striker dropped for the north London derby as his disciplinary problems began to impact on his selection.
It was midway through the 2021/22 season that Arteta's frustration with Aubameyang peaked. He was overlooked for a game in December and never returned to the first-team with the manager freezing him before with the two parties eventually having to terminate the deal they had struck just 18 months earlier.
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