Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Arsenal star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has admitted that he’s still not 100 per cent ahead of the Gunners’ Europa League clash against Villarreal.
Sadly, the Gabonese striker has been out of action for some time now after suffering with malaria, but luckily, the attacker is on the mend.
Unfortunately, the Arsenal forward isn’t back to full fitness as of yet.
“I would say 90%,” Aubameyang said when asked how fit he is head of this game.
Luckily, Aubameyang feels he is ready to start, responding to a question of whether or not he feels he can start by saying:
“Yeah definitely yes. When it’s important like this of course. In my mind I feel more than 100% but yeah for sure physically I’m not 100%”
That isn’t to say that Aubameyang hasn’t been physically affected by his illness, revealing that he actually lost four kilos during his time out.
“I think I lost four kilos. It was a really bad moment and I think it was scary for my family to see my like this. I’m lucky that we took it in the right moments because sometimes with malaria if you don’t treat it quickly you can have some big, big problems.”
Overall, we’re just glad to see that Aubameyang has come out of this relatively unscathed, but it is scary to hear that he’s lost four kilos.
Aubameyang may feel that he’s ready to start, but taking a risk on a player who’s admitting he’s only 90% fit would be a gamble.
It remains to be seen whether or not Aubameyang is selected to start against Villarreal.
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