Arteta insists Aubameyang can be convinced to stay at Arsenal

Mikel Arteta claimed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can be convinced to stay at Arsenal after admitting he had doubts about his star striker when he took over in December.

The £56m star is out of contract in the summer of 2021 and has been targeted by Barcelona.

But the Gunners skipper scored twice against Everton to join Jamie Vardy at the top of the Premier League scoring charts with 17 goals – and was praised by his manager for his unselfish work in defence.

“Aubameyang is our most important player, no doubt the impact he has in this team,” said Arteta. “We will have to convince him to stay with us.

“It was an incredible amount of work Aubameyang was doing. Before I took over I had my questions about him but he showed his commitment.

“I had two questions: he doesn't want to do it or he cannot do it physically. So once I found out physically he could do it, it was just about convincing him that he needs to do it every three days. And he's showing that.

“They (other teams) are completely right to want him because he's a superb player. He completely deserves to be liked by other teams but hopefully we can convince him that this is the right place for him. And he has a future here.

“I think it’s been tough for him, there’s been a lot of disappointments in the last few months and years because he has big expectations.

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