The Gabon international is about to enter the final year of his contract in north London and discussions over an extension have yet to reach an agreement.
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter have all been linked with Arsenal’s top scorer, who has scored 61 goals in 97 appearances since signing from Borussia Dortmund in 2018.
Head coach Mikel Arteta has stated that he wants to keep the 30-year-old at ‘all costs’, but Aliadiere – who won the Premier League with Arsenal in 2004 – believes a failure to agree fresh terms with the prolific forward leaves the club with no other option but to cash in.
“They’ve got to sell him, 100 per cent,” the Frenchman told Goal.
“Arsenal can’t keep losing players on a free. To be honest, I still can’t believe we’ve again got a top player, our captain, going into the summer only having one year left on his contract.
“For me, it has to be sorted when he gets to two years. Last summer he should have signed a deal or been sold. Because when you get down to one year left, in a player’s mind there is a difference.
“If I was Aubameyang and I knew I only had one year left, I would sacrifice one year of my career to go on a free and get paid a ridiculous amount of money and have all the clubs in the world chasing me. Who wouldn’t?”
Aliadiere added:
“That’s why I just think it’s wrong management yet again. It should be sorted at two years. You should not let a player end up with a year left on his contract, especially a player like Aubameyang. It’s not right.
“I just think players are playing on it, they keep letting negotiations drag on and the next thing you know, he’s just got one year left.
“And now, how much are we going to sell him for with one year left? Arsenal are in the worst position you can imagine again because you’ve got a top quality player who assures you of 20-25 Premier League goals a season who is one year away from leaving on a free.
“Or, he gets sold to Barcelona or Real Madrid and for what? How much can you expect for him now? Nothing compared to what if you’d sold him last summer. They could have asked for £100 million ($121m).”
