Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has revealed what Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said to him that convinced the forward to stay.
The Gabon international signed a new deal in north London keeping him at the club until 2023, announcing it on Tuesday afternoon.
It will see the 31-year-old earn £250,000 a week at the Emirates Stadium, bringing an end to speculation he would leave the club.
And the captain has now explained how manager Arteta, who saw his player hit the back of the net to put the Gunners top of the Premier League after the opening weekend, convened him to stay.
Speaking on the club’s official YouTube channel, Aubameyang said: “He was straight and honest – that’s what I like because we are honest.
(Image: 2020 The Arsenal Football Club Plc)
Sign up for the brilliant new Mirror Football newsletter!
From the latest transfer news to the agenda-setting stories, get it all in your email inbox.
New signings Willian and Gabriel Magalhaes both hit the ground running against Fulham but Mikel Arteta is still on the lookout for new signings.
Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar and Brentford keeper David Raya are two of the names on their radar.
Put your email at the top of this article or follow the instructions on this link.
“He said ‘Okay, you can maybe leave. I don’t know what your mind is [thinking] right now, but you can leave and go for trophies at other clubs or you can stay here and have a legacy’.
“This, for me, was the key word. ‘Legacy’.
“He convinced me. We had a chat when we were in lockdown. We were speaking about a game and I had to do a summary.
“He called me and said ‘forget about it’. I prepared maybe two pages and he said ‘yeah, forget about it. Let’s talk about real things’.
“He said ‘I want to be honest with you, how do you feel’. And I was like ‘I have to say the truth, I feel very good’.
“In two or three months since he was here, you can feel the passion. He is so good and he’s the kind of guy you can trust.
“That’s why I said to him I feel very good. What [he] said to me about legacy and stuff, I really thought about it. I thought it was the right way, the true way to go.”
(Image: 2020 The Arsenal Football Club Plc)
Aubameyang’s dad also played a big part in negotiation, teasing the new deal over the summer.
And the 31-year-old went on to reveal the conversation he had with Auba Snr about the three-year deal.
“We talk a lot about about football,” the forward added.
“When I said to him ‘I think it is the right moment to stay’, he was like, ‘I listen to you, that’s your decision.
(Image: ARSENAL)
“‘Of course, I can give you advice but then you have to choose yourself’.
“We were talking about always the same thing.
“I have to put in the work/ Now I am the captain of this team, so it is something really special. Of course, he was a captain as well.”
But Aubameyang’s new deal does not mean Arteta will finish spending this summer.
