Newcastle United have been offered the chance to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on loan.
For now the 32-year-old is with Gabon at the African Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon.
Aubameyang has been frozen out at Arsenal and the Gunners allowed him to join up with Gabon earlier than usual.
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Aubameyang is desperate for an escape from his Arsenal nightmare but it would be on his terms.
Newcastle looked at Aubameyang extensively during the early stages of his career when former chief scout Graham Carr carried out multiple assessments during his time at St Etienne.
Carr even persuaded ex-owner Mike Ashley to come on a scouting mission with him to France, but he eventually moved to Borussia Dortmund before he became a favourite with Arsenal.
A breach of discipline in recent times has left him on the sidelines at Arsenal though.
Mikel Arteta said: "We had a letter from the national team asking permission to get the player and the player wasn’t going to get involved today so, for his fitness and to keep competing, it was the right thing to do.
"At the moment he has gone [to Afcon].
"He needs to focus on the national team, and we had the conversation that was the best possible way to do it.
"I said before, we will address [his situation] game-by-game."
A loan exit would work for Arsenal but the terms and demands of Aubameyang could complicate matters.
Arsenal drove a hard bargain for Joe Willock in the summer and Aubameyang still has 18 months left on his current deal so there would be work to do on any potential deal from a Newcastle point of view.
For now, he remains one of many options on Newcastle's lengthy list of targets but the deal would certainly be a hit with most fans.
