Arsenal have been warned not to repeat the mistakes they made with Mesut Ozil as they look to negotiate a new deal with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The striker's deal is up in less than 12 months and he again underlined his importance with a match winning brace in the FA Cup Final on Saturday.
Aubameyang remains Arsenal's most important player as Mikel Arteta looks to build on an impressive opening seven months.
But the Emirates chiefs have been told not to allow discussions to run on like they did with Ozil and Alexis Sanchez.
The latter ended up leaving while the former eventually signed a new lucrative deal which has done the north London outfit few favours.
And Martin Keown has urged his former club to seek a resolution as soon as possible.
He wrote in the Daily Mail : "The 31-year-old has not signed an extension and it is now important that Arsenal resolve his future one way or another this summer.
"They cannot allow another distracting contract saga to crop up, as we saw with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.
"But if Aubameyang does depart, then they will need to replace the goals they are losing. He guarantees you 20 a season at least — even when operating as an inside forward from the left wing.
"I've compared Aubameyang to Thierry Henry previously and as someone who shared a dressing room with Arsenal's greatest ever goalscorer, I don't do so lightly.
"Strikers can do special things in training but it's about doing it in the big moments, too. Henry used to do that, and Aubameyang did it against Chelsea."
Aubameyang recently broke Henry's record for quickest Arsenal player to 50 Premier League goals.
His productivity has been better than anyone of Premier League forward since he signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2018.
