Arsenal could end up regretting the decision to allow Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to join Barcelona on a free transfer.
The writing had been on the wall for the 32-year-old with regards to his Gunners' future having been left out of the squad that travelled to Dubai for a warm-weather training camp.
This is after Aubameyang hadn't featured for Arsenal since a substitute appearance in the 2-1 loss against Everton at the beginning of December and being stripped of the captaincy following a 'disciplinary breach'.
Initially expected to join Barcelona on loan, the Gunners managed to find an agreement that has allowed the Gabon international to complete a free transfer to the La Liga giants.
From a financial point of view, this is certainly a great deal for Arsenal as with Aubameyang still having 73 weeks left on his contract, the club will be saving a whopping £25.6million in wages.
But the Gunners have lost their best goalscorer over the past four years.
As pointed out by Opta, since Aubameyang's move to Arsenal in the 2018 January transfer window, his 68 Premier League goals have been worth more points (53) than any other player's across the entire division.
This is more than the likes of Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy.
Of course, many will point to Aubameyang's decline over the past 18 months with his goal output dropping significantly and that Arsenal coped well immediately after he was frozen out.
There were two five-goal showings against Sunderland and Norwich City over the festive period and a 4-1 win over Leeds United where the Gunners could have scored more.
However, since the turn of the year, Arteta's side have scored one goal in five games.
Whether Aubameyang would have made a difference is up for debate, but if the golden opportunities that fell to either Eddie Nkektiah and Alexandre Lacazette across games against Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Burnley fell to him, there's a good chance he takes at least two of them.
With and without Aubameyang, Arsenal's entire output in attack has suffered tremendously under Mikel Arteta and it's something club legend Thierry Henry, their record goalscorer, has been warning about for some time.
"Aubameyang scored two goals and we escaped," the Frenchman said following the Gunners' 2-2 draw against Norwich in late 2019 shortly before Arteta was appointed as head coach.
"But that's what I saw, you know, without the goals of Aubameyang I don't know where we would have been right now."
Furthermore, when Aubameyang's future was up in the air during the back end of the 2019/20 season, Henry reiterated his point of just how important the striker was to Arsenal.
"All I know is that we are definitely going to miss his goals if he does leave," Henry told Sky Sports. "He does score goals and if you take the goals of Aubameyang away, it’s a tough one."
Now Aubameyang's goals have been taken away, Henry will soon get his answer regarding his biggest fear about Arsenal.
Whilst Aubameyang hasn't been at his best this season, Arsenal still have to replace his goals. But they haven't.
The popular saying is that 'strikers win games', as a result, the Gunners will be reliant on Lacazette and Nketiah - possibly Gabriel Martinelli - to fire them back into Europe next season.
That's an extremely tough ask when you consider there are three Premier League goals between the two natural centre-forwards so far this term and in Arteta's system where chances are at a premium, the dream of a top-four finish is at risk.
Time will tell if selling and not replacing Aubameyang was the right decision, but based on his contributions over the past four years, it has every chance of backfiring on Arsenal.
