London, Sep 16 (IANS): Arsenal's hopes for the new season have received a major boost with captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signing a new three-year contract with the club.

The 31-year-old player had one year left on his previous contract and would have been able to leave for nothing in the summer of June 2021, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Signing for this special club was never in doubt," the striker told the Arsenal website, adding it was "thanks to our fans, my teammates, my family and everybody at this club that I feel like I belong here".

"I believe in Arsenal. We can achieve big things together. We have something exciting here and I believe the best is yet to come," he added.

Aubameyang scored in Arsenal's opening game of the season as they won 3-0 away last Saturday and netted 22 league goals last season [to add to the 22 he scored the previous year], as well as scoring both goals in his side's FA Cup final win over Chelsea.

"It was important for Pierre-Emerick to stay with us. He's a superb player with an incredible mentality. Being the player to have taken the least amount of time to reach 50 goals with this club tells you everything you need to know about him and his way of working," commented Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta.