‘Luckiest boy alive’: Pundit says player Arsenal let go is lucky to be at Euro giants

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Craig Burley has claimed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the ‘luckiest boy alive’ after he left Arsenal for Barcelona, as he told ESPN.

The former Scotland midfielder thinks, given what happened to Aubameyang at Arsenal, he is ‘lucky’ that he is joining a club ‘the size of Barcelona’.

Aubameyang’s last game for the Gunners was their defeat at Everton in December when he came off the bench.

But, from then on, an already-struggling Aubameyang, went tumbling down the Emirates steps because he was stopped of the captain’s armband by Mikel Arteta.

It seems as though during his final few weeks of the club, the Gabon star didn’t even train with the first team.

But Burley pointed out that even before Aubameyang’s troubles, he was bang out of form, as he questioned why Barcelona continue to purchase ‘bad apples’.

“Not really no (doesn’t make sense),” said Burley. “I heard about the Adama Traore transfer, the pace and running in behind.

“Aubameyang, for me, different position, but can play wide is kind of similar. Therefore, he thrives on that space in behind. Barcelona, even with a young and inexperienced team tend to dominate games domestically.

“There’s no denying his talent. But it seems Barcelona have a pension for a bad apple. Dembele is a talent, but he is a bit of a bad apple. This guy had problems at Dortmund and he’s had problems at Arsenal.

“He is the luckiest boy alive to get a move to a club like Barcelona’s size. After not only the way he has conducted himself, for club and country. But the way he is playing. He’s not playing either.”

It’s going to be very interesting to see how things pan out for Aubameyang from now until the end of the season.

If Arsenal fail to reach Champions League football and he struggles at Barcelona, then it will look pretty bad on Mikel Arteta.

But if the Gunners secure that top-four finish and Aubameyang continues to struggle, then, just like Mesut Ozil, it will prove that Arteta is doing the right thing.

Either way, with only Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah as his strikers, there is big pressure on the duo to get the goals during the second half of the campaign.