Arsenal have been told to offer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a 'performance-based' contract amid fears the forward will leave the Emirates.
Gunners captain Aubameyang was anonymous in his side's 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad as the Premier League season resumed following its enforced three-month hiatus.
The Gabon international is about to enter the final year of his Arsenal contract, and suggested in a frank interview with Telefoot that he wouldn't sign fresh terms unless he is convinced Arsenal will be competitive next season.
Manager Mikel Arteta is keen to keep Aubameyang out of the clutches of Barcelona - but faces a job to convince his top scorer to stay, with Arsenal languishing in ninth place in the Premier League after playing their game in hand on the sides above them.
And Arteta has been warned that any new deal for the 31-year-old must link renumeration to results.
The advice comes from former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan, who says Arsenal would be extending Aubameyang's deal with a view only to short-term success as the forward approaches the autumn of his career.
"If the market pays players like this player with his ability £250,000 a week, whether that’s right or wrong is irrelevant, that’s what you’ve got to pay somebody if you want to retain their services," Jordan told TalkSPORT.
“The only challenge for Arsenal is that he would have no economic resale value [if he signed a new deal]. They can’t sell him for anything.
“If he signs another two or three-year contract, they won’t be signing a player to not only achieve things in the short-term but also make some money off when they come to sell him further down the line, they’d be simply be saying ‘we pay money now to get some short-term success, because that’s what Mikel Arteta needs'.
"I would do something footballers don’t like to do, which is make the offer performance-related.
“I would be saying to Aubameyang: ‘You want £250,000 a week? I tell you what, I’ll give you £300,000 a week if you score X amount of goals’.
"Let’s make this about you, let’s make it about your achievement, let’s make it about your individual return’.
“But players often want guarantees, and then the bonuses on top. It’s about finding the middle ground.”
Aubameyang has scored 20 goals this season, 17 of them in the Premier League. He has also been linked with Real Madrid and Manchester United, as well as Barcelona.
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