Jamie Carragher has insisted that Arsenal should keep Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this summer, even if it means letting him leave the club for free next summer.
The Gunners' star striker has just over a year left on his contract and is yet to sign a new deal.
With Arsenal almost guaranteed to miss out on the top four again this season, Aubameyang has been reluctant to pen fresh terms with the club.
It's left Mikel Arteta and the club with a dilemma over whether to sell their top goal-scorer or keep him beyond this summer and risk losing him for free.
Carragher, though, believes Arsenal will be in a much stronger position to return to Champions League football next season if they keep Aubameyang, despite the risk of losing him on a Bosman transfer.
"It's interesting, the Arsenal situation because we were in this situation a lot towards the end of my career at Liverpool," Carragher told The Football Show.
"We were just missing out on the top four, basically, and, yes, it's okay having rules in place at Arsenal saying 'we don't let players go on a Bosman ruling' but if you're Mikel Arteta, I'd be looking at it as 'we have got more chance of getting in the Champions League next year, even if he goes for free next summer?'.
"That's the decision they have to make, really. At this stage, there's no doubt Aubameyang is too good for Arsenal. We had that at Liverpool with Luis Suarez. You're desperate to keep hold of them because as a club you want to build around this player, if they go, you feel like you're starting again.
"That's the issue with trying to get back into the top four and starting again as Arsenal have been trying to do. I hear all 'if he doesn't want to be here, let him go' but it's not easy when you're at the club and you have a player of such star quality who is nailed on this season and next season to be there or thereabouts for the Golden Boot.
"It's not easy to find goalscorers so I would keep Aubameyang and see what you could do, can you bring players around him and convince him to stay?"
