Barcelona completed the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on a free transfer from Arsenal this week in a dramatic late development in the transfer window.
The 32-year-old will move to the Camp Nou on an 18-month contract after the Gunners waived any transfer fee in order to make the move permanent.
It was a move that was met with criticism from sections of Arsenal’s support, who were frustrated that the club would allow the striker to leave as a free agent.
The Gabonese striker had 18 months remaining on his contract in North London – which had been agreed in the summer of 2020 – and that was due to cost Arsenal a whopping £25million.
Aubameyang had been on a weekly wage of £350k – comfortably the highest salary at Arsenal and a significant drain on the club’s resources.
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While that appeared to represent a significant saving for the North London club, it has now come to light that they had to make a huge payment to the striker in order to cancel his contract.
As per a report from The Times, Arsenal had to make Aubameyang a lump sum payment of £7million in order to cancel his arrangement with the club and allow him to agree terms at the Camp Nou.
While the suggestions are that Aubameyang has taken a significant wage cut to join Barca, this will have been significantly offset by the one-off sum.
Furthermore, the striker has agreed a contract at Barca through to the summer of 2025 – by which time he will be aged 36.
This suggests that Aubameyang will enjoy long-term financial security from his agreement with the Catalan club.
Aubameyang, who trained with Barcelona for the first time on Tuesday, does have an agreement in his new deal with the Blaugrana that could see his contract terminated in 2023 – when his Arsenal contract was due to expire – although it is unclear if either the player or club holds the power in that option.
The striker’s contract at the Camp Nou includes a release clause of £83million – a sum which is highly unlikely to be met due to his age.
Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah – both of whom are out of contract this summer - are now the only recognised senior strikers in Arsenal ’s squad, following the loan exit of Folarin Balogun to Middlesbrough earlier this month.
Balogun was one of six players to exit Arsenal’s first-team squad in January with Ainsley Maitland-Niles joining Roma on loan and Pablo Mari making a temporary move to Udinese, while Callum Chambers and Sead Kolasinac joined Aston Villa and Marseille respectively on free transfers, prior to Aubameyang moving on.
Aubameyang scored 92 goals for Arsenal in 163 appearances for the club since his January 2018 arrival from Borussia Dortmund, including seven goals in 15 outings this campaign.
