It’s testament to how things are going for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Chelsea that his omission from Graham Potter’s Champions League squad on Friday afternoon was greeted less by surprise and more by a resigned sense of expectation.
Following a remarkable influx of January additions – Joao Felix, Mykhaylo Mudryk and new £105 million record signing Enzo Fernandez among them – Potter found himself in the unenviable situation of having to drop one of his most high-profile players for the UCL knock-out stages.
In truth, however, there was one stand-out candidate.
Aubameyang has not started a single Chelsea game since November. There was that nine minute cameo against Liverpool. The ignominy of being subbed on and subbed off again vs Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
The former Arsenal captain’s omission from February’s round-of-16 clash with former employers Borussia Dortmund, however, feels like something of an ‘end of days’ scenario for Aubameyang in West London. If the camel’s back isn’t breaking yet, then he’s certainly looking in the Yellow Papers for a local chiropractor.
“I think they will cut their ties with him,” Paul Merson writes in his Sky Sports collumn. “As soon as you are sub-subbing a 30-something player, I think that is probably the end.
“Potter did it with him at 33.”
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of Chelsea’s Champions League squad
A potential move to Aston Villa is not something Aubameyang would likely have entertained until very recently. But, as a certain Cristiano Ronaldo will tell you, the biggest clubs in Europe do not always come rushing when an ageing 30-something centre-forward becomes available, regardless of how glittering his CV may be.
According to The Standard, Aubameyang is expecting approaches from Barcelona and Atletico Madrid over the summer. On paper, it seems unlikely Aston Villa – who’s coach Unai Emery worked with the Gabon international at Arsenal – would stand much of a chance against two La Liga powerhouses (The Athletic).
But Aubameyang was turfed out of Barcelona as recently as September; falling behind Robert Lewandowski in the Camp Nou pecking order. Atletico, meanwhile, have Alvaro Morata, Antoine Griezmann and new recruit Memphis Depay vying for a starting spot. It’s far from guaranteed that either club would be willing to take him on board. Let alone offer him a first-team role.
After a season wasted on the sidelines at Stamford Bridge, Aubameyang’s priority, at the age of 33, should be to find a club willing to offer him regular minutes again. The chance to feel important again, under a coach who knows, loves and trusts him. Aston Villa may not be capable of offering Champions League football but, then again, neither are Chelsea these days…
And it was Emery, don’t forget, who handed Aubameyang the captaincy at Arsenal following that whole Granit Xhaka saga four years ago.
“Aubameyang is a killer,” Emery smiled in 2021. “He was, he is and he will always be.”
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