Aubameyang contract offer imminent as Arsenal plan major transfer rebuild (Charles Watts) : Gunners

With the FA Cup now safely secured, Arsenal’s attention will switch this week to accelerating talks over Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s new contract.

The Gunners captain – who scored both goals in Saturday’s 2-1 win against Chelsea at Wembley – is into the final year of his current deal and Mikel Arteta is desperate to keep hold of his top scorer, who found the net 29 times in all competitions last season.

Discussions have been ongoing for weeks with the 31-year-old, but a firm contract offer has not yet been made. All parties wanted to focus on the club’s attempts to win a 14th FA Cup.

For Arsenal, victory at Wembley was vital to ensure they would be competing in the Europa League next season; participation in that competition could see their revenue boosted by up to £35 million ($45.8m).

With that now guaranteed, they will look to tie down Aubameyang for a further three years. An offer is expected to be submitted in the coming days which will mean a significant increase on the current £200,000 ($262,000) per week deal he signed in 2018.

Speaking after Saturday’s FA Cup win against Chelsea, Aubameyang gave little away about his future but Arteta was hopeful things could move forward.

“I hope so,” said Arsenal’s head coach. “Everything is based on my conversations with him, how he sees his future, what I expect from him, the team that I want to build around him and the conversations I have with the people who are very influential around him.

“The club, we all respect and admire him, the players are all behind him. We know the players that we have and we have to value him. I think if we reach all of those points, we’ll make progress.”