Was it really helpful to get Aubameyang out of the squad in December?

By Sir Hardly Anyone

Aubameyang made his final appearance for Arsenal on 6 December 2021 for the away game at Everton, which Arsenal lost, 2-1.

Arsenal at this point were seventh in the league – with none of the games in hand that were subsequently to become our hallmark.   We were four points behind West Ham in fourth, having a goal difference of minus 4.   In rough and ready terms Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea had all scored around twice as many goals as Arsenal – and that after just 15 games!

Here is the league table for 6 December 2021.

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Manchester City 15 11 2 2 32 9 23 35
2 Liverpool 15 10 4 1 44 12 32 34
3 Chelsea 15 10 3 2 35 9 26 33
4 West Ham United 15 8 3 4 28 19 9 27
5 Tottenham Hotspur 14 8 1 5 16 17 -1 25
6 Manchester United 15 7 3 5 25 24 1 24
7 Arsenal 15 7 2 6 18 22 -4 23

Our last four matches resulting in the table as shown above, were three defeats and one victory – that one victory being over Newcastle who at the time were very firmly at the foot of the table with not one single win in the league after playing 13 games.  Here are those last four games (readers of a nervous disposition may like to skip this chart.)

Date Match Res Score
20 Nov 2021 Liverpool v Arsenal L 4-0
27 Nov 2021 Arsenal v Newcastle United W 2-0
02 Dec 2021 Manchester United v Arsenal L 3-2
06 Dec 2021 Everton v Arsenal L 2-1

Then, with Aubameyang on the sidelines Arsenal went on a bit of a run in terms of league games.

Date Match Res Score
11 Dec 2021 Arsenal v Southampton W 3-0
15 Dec 2021 Arsenal v West Ham United W 2-0
18 Dec 2021 Leeds United v Arsenal W 1-4
26 Dec 2021 Norwich City v Arsenal W 0-5
1 Jan 2022 Arsenal v Manchester City L 1-2
23 Jan 2022 Arsenal v Burnley D 0-0
10 Feb 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal W 0-1
19 Feb 2022 Arsenal v Brentford W 2-1
24 Feb 2022 Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers W 2-1
06 Mar 2022 Watford v Arsenal W 2-3

Now, much was made at point of Auba’s departure as to how we were letting go our most expensive player, and getting nothing in return – except we were saving money on his salary which was quoted as being of astronomical proportions.

But let’s compare the table when Aubameyang left and now.

Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
7 AFC with Auba 15 7 2 6 18 22 -4 23
4 AFC today 25 15 3 7 41 29 12 48
+3 Difference 10 8 1 1 23 7 +16 25

In fact we got more points in the 10 games without Aubameyang in the squad than we got in the 15 games with him in the squad.

But where does that leave us in terms of the value of the squad?

The website Transfermarkt.co.uk gives a value for members of the current squad of each of the 20 Premier League clubs.  It shows that Manchester City has the most valuable squad, followed by Liverpool in second place.

This accords of course exactly with the position of the two clubs in the league.  But does that mean that bringing in ever more valuable players will bring success on the pitch?  Certainly not in the case of Aubameyang, but let’s look in a little more detail.

To work that out I thought it might be interesting to compare the current value of the top clubs with the number of points so far earned in the league to get a cost per point and thus work out an efficiency level.

Pos Club League points Current value £m per point Efficiency
1 69 £12.93m 6
2 63 £12.70m 5
3 53 £14.99m 9
4 48 £14.81m 8
5 45 £11.61m 3
6 33 £14.01m 7
7 48 £9.58m 2
8 22 £18.56m 10
9 33 £11.63m 4
10 45 £7m 1

The “Efficiency Level” is of course just my invention, but it looks at the value of the squad according to Transfermarkt against the number of points gained.   West Ham spent the least amount per point gained, while Everton who are crashing downward, the most.  (The chart does not include last night’s match).

Thus Arsenal are the second most cost-effective club in the top half of the league – and that is without taking into account the fact that we still have between one and three games in hand of the clubs around us.

So for all those wild ravings in the media about how Arsenal always waste money, we are absolutely not doing that when compared with our results and other clubs.  Auba may have gone for nothing, but our results since he left have improved, so it was a good move.

7 Replies to “Was it really helpful to get Aubameyang out of the squad in December?”

  1. @Goonerssince72,

    The 10 game metric was used the other day as well on german TV in a show. Can’t remember which, but I was happy and sorry UA did not patent it !!

  2. I’m sure your little transfer ins and outs would have slated aubas exit as fake news at the time now its the best thing that happened this season. Hmmmm any apology from yourselves as you demand from the media?

  3. Dan

    “I’m sure your little transfer ins and outs would have slated Aubas exit as fake news at the time”

    Are you ? I mean are you really really sure ??

    This from Tony on Untold Arsenal on the 4th of January

    ARE ARSENAL ABOUT TO BUY ANOTHER SHED LOAD OF PLAYERS ? OR JUST SELL AUBA ?

    “So I am not saying that Arsenal are better by dint of a better performance against the rest of the “big six” – clearly not, but rather that even though Tottenham’s record is one draw better than ours, they have had the benefit of playing 80% of these games at the Unsponsored Stadium, plus the majority of their league games at home.

    Put all this together and I think the management will feel we are doing fine. As a result, the most likely transfer this window, will be the sale of Auba.”

    AS A RESULT, THE MOST LIKELY TRANSFER THIS WINDOW, WILL BE THE SALE OF AUBA

    https://untold-arsenal.com/archives/92227

    Sometimes Dan you should really know what you aretaking about before you open you make accusations.

    The point is Dan, are YOU going to apologist ?

  4. Just in case you missed it I’ll ask again, only this time in English.

    Sometimes Dan you should really know what you are taking about before you make accusations.

    The point is Dan, are YOU going to apologise ?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *