Ahead of Barcelona’s 2-1 UEFA Europa League victory over Galatasaray on Thursday night, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang answered a question that puzzled Arsenal supporters throughout Mikel Arteta’s first two years at the helm.
And his response may have raised a few quizzical eyebrows in North London.
“At Barca I feel comfortable playing as a striker,” says a man who’s scored seven goals in seven games for the Catalan giants. “But, at Arsenal, I was better on the left wing.”
Avid AFTV viewers may remember that, not so long ago, Arteta’s usage of Arsenal’s most gifted finisher on the left-hand side was threatening to become a major bone of contention among some Gunners supporters.
In theory, a role out wide was supposed to give Aubameyang the freedom to cut inside onto his favoured right foot.
But, much of the time, it merely left Arsenal’s best attacker on the periphery and, crucially, away from the positions where he poached so many goals in England, Germany and France.
Tailor-made for Arsenal?
German publication Sport1 claim that Arsenal have joined Newcastle United in the race to sign the £50 million-rated Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen.
Arteta, then, could soon be getting to grips with a man perfectly suited to the style of play he’s spent much of the last three years trying to introduce at the Emirates.
Diaby offers much of what Arteta wanted from Aubameyang in a wide position. But, considering he’s a natural-born winger rather than a centre-forward shunted rather awkwardly onto the flanks, he arguably does it far more effectively and efficiently.
“Since he was young, Moussa had this talent,” Morade Djeddi, president of Diaby’s first club Esperance Paris 19e, told The Athletic this month.
“Very quickly, you realise that he has explosiveness. An ability to take on his opponent and dribbling skills.”
“I’m not comparing him to (Lionel) Messi. I’m just saying that Lionel Messi didn’t learn his dribbling anywhere. It’s the same for Moussa. He was born with it.
“Moussa has a supernatural, divine gift. A gift that some have and others don’t.”
Supernatural gift
It would be unfair to suggest that Aubamenyang didn’t possess such a gift himself. Its just that, when it comes to breezing past opposition full-backs in wide areas, Diaby is far superior to a man who averaged 2.1 goals per game on the left compared to 1.6 through the middle (Transfermarkt).
Aubameyang on the left felt like times like a bit of a square peg in a round hole. Arteta wouldn’t have similar problems with Diaby.
The Leverkusen talisman has contributed 25 goals and assists throughout 2021/22 despite being used exclusively as a winger. The prospect of Diaby lining up on one flank, with Bukayo Saka on the other, is enough to send the sale of sleeping pills rocketing among Premier League full-backs.
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