Mikel Arteta has this week thrown down the gauntlet to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
With just over a year to run on the striker's contract, Aubameyang and Arsenal are at a crossroads.
The club are in a big rebuilding process, and that will take patience.
But time is of the essence for Aubameyang, who wants to be back in the Champions League and may feel he can't afford to stick around.
Arteta didn’t mention his forward specifically this week when stating: "If i have to convince a player to stay or join us then I am a little bit …. it holds me back a little bit."
But it was very much a subtle hint towards: ‘Commit or we don’t want you here’.
An admirable stance, and the sort of attitude that very few fans would seek to argue with. But can Arsenal really afford to lose him?
For starters, Aubameyang is arguably the only player in Arsenal’s side who can, on form this season, reasonably claim he would be able to force his way into a top four side or one of Europe's true elite.
A note to Bukayo Saka, who has been outstanding, but from a team perspective, you need players of Aubameyang’s experience and star quality to set the bar for the rest, particularly at the top end of the table.
Aubameyang won the golden boot last season and has again scored critical goals this term. He is Arsenal’s captain and leader, but it seems he doesn’t fully believe success is on the horizon.
What sort of that message does that send to the rest of the squad?
Jack Wilshere admitted last week that losing players of such stature led to a drop in expectations during his time at the club.
Understandable, yet also concerning for the current Arsenal hierarchy - because recent evidence suggests it hasn't stopped.
Emmanuel Adebayor, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie, Alexis Sanchez, Aubameyang next?
However, there's a considerable difference with those from previous years. Namely, that Arsenal were previously considered a top four side and had been regularly competing in the Champions League.
Right now, they’re still some way off that level even with Aubameyang in their ranks. If the Premier League were cancelled tomorrow amid the coronavirus crisis, they wouldn't even be in the Europa League next season.
Ultimately Unai Emery was a failure, and Arteta’s arrival has breathed fresh life into the club, and there are positive signs of a revival.
But how realistic are their hopes of success in the seasons to come?
That is a question Aubameyang has no doubt already pondered over.
Given he turns 31 this summer you can’t really blame him for wondering whether the grass would be greener elsewhere. And in the cases of many of the sides interested in him, it probably would be - at least in terms of his hunger for silverware and Champions League football.
He would be leaving behind hero status, and Sanchez serves as a cautionary tale, but it’s arguable that his subsequent struggles came down to a poor choice of destination. Would we be saying the same now had Sanchez taken up Man City’s offer? Maybe. Maybe not.
Either way Arsenal got the better end of the deal of the Chilean’s sale, while also bringing in Aubameyang in the same window.
The problem facing Mikel Arteta now is that Arsenal are not the attractive prospect they once were, even when Aubameyang arrived in 2018.
Top players want to be in the Champions League, and would rather skip being part of a rebuild and jump straight to fighting for trophies.
That alone means Arsenal’s bar needs to be set lower for new arrivals, and places increased pressure on their recruitment which, with the jury still out on £72million Nicolas Pepe, remains questionable.
Not to mention the assumed financial constraints Arsenal are seemingly balancing at present. New additions this summer hardly look like they will be breaking the bank, and how much from Aubameyang’s sale would go straight back into the transfer kitty?
Arsenal will still attract players of course, but it has become a more difficult task, with plenty of pitfalls to dodge. After all, players like Aubameyang are not two a penny.
He has been a huge success at Arsenal, but close pal Alexandre Lacazette, signed for a similar fee, for all his quality has been less successful. And right now, even he seems closer out the door than in.
Consider Arsenal lose Aubameyang, Lacazette and Mesut Ozil in the space of the next year or less, where does that leave them?
It frees up a significant portion of wages, but it leaves behind largely a squad full of promising youngsters and a £72million winger.
Arteta may be Pep Guardiola’s apprentice but it would take some effort to spearhead what remains to a top four finish, even with a handful of decent signings.
Arsenal are where they are in the table for a reason - they’ve been worse than those above them. And over their shoulders are Everton and Newcastle, who won’t just be making up the numbers next season.
With Aubameyang they stand a slim hope of going some way to halting their regression, and achieving not just on-field success, but attracting other players off it.
The striker reaffirmed his commitment to Arsenal in the immediate aftermath of Arteta’s appointment, in the haze of fresh optimism.
His silence now, as his contract situation rumbles, is deafening.
Were it not for Aubameyang’s crucial importance to Arsenal the club would possibly be prepared to ship him out this summer without a second thought.
But like it or not, if Arsenal lose Aubameyang there’s every chance they’ll be heading deeper into their post-Wenger slump than they are at present.
And that’s no quick fix. Just ask Manchester United.
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