Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has just proven Thomas Tuchel right about Chelsea transfer
decision
Before Chelsea played Arsenal for the first time under Thomas Tuchel, the inevitable question
of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came up.
Aubameyang played under Tuchel while they were both at Borussia Dortmund with the Gabon
forward scoring a whopping 76 goals during the two seasons they were together in Germany.
And with the Blues in need of a new striker after Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard at the
helm, they were naturally linked with the Arsenal captain.
Tuchel and Chelsea ultimately decided to splash out £97.5million on Romelu Lukaku over the
summer and any hopes of a reunion were off.
The Arsenal captain signed a new long-term contract at the Emirates in September 2020
for three years, worth a reported £300,000 a week, but it looks like that deal could
come to an abrupt end after Aubameyang was stripped of the captain's armband after another
disciplinary problem that kept him out of the game with Southampton at the weekend.
He was left out of the starting line-up by Arteta for Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Everton
the previous Monday night too, only coming off the bench after Eddie Nketiah had already
replaced Gabriel Martinelli.
A late miss almost summed up the malaise of Arsenal and Aubameyang himself at the present
moment and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville took no prisoners at full time, saying: "I
think there will be a problem with Aubameyang off the back of this game.
I don't think he will like the idea of Nketiah coming on, I don't think he will like the
idea of being snubbed, full stop."
On current evidence, Tuchel would have no need to bring Aubameyang to SW6.
Goalscoring among his strikers has still been an issue this year despite the arrival of
Lukaku, who in fairness has missed two months of action with a hamstring injury.
Speaking back in May ahead of the game, unironically, Arsenal won 1-0, Tuchel said when asked about
the 32-year-old: “He does not get younger, that’s the problem.
“Back in the days at Dortmund, it was a pure pleasure to have him in the squad.
Auba was a fantastic striker, a fantastic finisher on the pitch.
But more than that, he was a fantastic worker off the pitch.
I think he did not miss one single training in two years.
“Maybe he arrived five minutes late on the training ground, that can happen with him!
But if he does this, he is in a hurry, he excuses, he feels sorry, he still has a smile
on his face.
"When we wanted him to be on time, we told him the meeting was 10.45am when the meeting
was 11am so there was a good chance he would be there with everyone else.
“It’s not the biggest problem.
But don’t forget that he was also a top, top professional who never missed any training
session.
It was a pleasure to work with him, always with a smile on his face, a very, very honest
guy.
“A bit of a crazy guy, but this is nice crazy.
We still are in touch from time to time and exchange messages when some of us have a big
win.
In some way, he will still always be my player and feels like he will always be my player,
so you want him to succeed and have a good time wherever they are.
“This contact never fully stopped and it’s nice to see him because he’s always on for
a hug and it’s nice to see him laugh, but, of course, we want to stop him and there is
no exchange now before the games.
It’s not the first time we played against the guy we trained so nothing special there.”
But Tuchel has been proved right in a way when referring to Aubameyang’s age.
The Gabon striker appears to be bereft of confidence right now and, of course, he can
get the goalscoring streak back with a good run of form, but will confidence return anytime
soon after being stripped of the captaincy?
It seems unlikely and while he may be set to leave the Emirates Stadiu, Tuchel would
be wise to stick to his guns and steer clear if he does delve into the market for a new
striker at any point.