Darren Bent has questioned whether Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has lost his intensity since signing a new three-year contract at Arsenal. Former Tottenham and Charlton striker Bent is worried about the player’s performances in general since penning the new deal as he is about his lack of goals.
Darren Bent said “It’s not the fact he hasn’t scored a goal, it’s the performances. Before he signed his contract he was absolutely everywhere – running back, tracking back, putting tackles in, breaking forward. There was a real hunger and intensity to his game. At the minute, you can see there’s been a massive drop off. I don’t know if it’s coincided with the new contract, but you can tell that he’s not playing with the same intensity that he had before. When you focus so much on getting a new deal like Aubameyang did, you’ll run that extra yard and make that extra effort. When he sits down now and analyses his performances before and after the contract he’ll see that there’s been a massive change.”
The Gunners captain has continually proved his worth to the club since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2018. Aubameyang netted 22 goals in the Premier League last season, including twice in the FA Cup final win over Chelsea. But there were fears that Arsenal would have to sell their star player with his contract running down, but the striker committed his long-term future to the club by penning a new three-year contract worth in the region of £250,000-a-week – a whopping £36million over the duration of his deal. Since then, however, Aubameyang has only netted once this season – in the opening day victory over Fulham and there have been fears that the striker’s performances levels have dropped off.
The 31-year-old will have two opportunities to get back on the scoresheet this week when Arsenal take on Rapid Vienna in the Europa League on Thursday. The Gunners then welcome Leicester City to the Emirates in the Premier League on Sunday, where Mikel Arteta’s side will be hoping to bounce back from the defeat to Manchester City.
