Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has reflected on his turbulent season at Chelsea due to how he found it difficult to break into the team’s first eleven.
What happened?
The West London club side were completely active in the 2022 summer transfer window. It was Chelsea‘s first transfer window since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over the club, and the club’s new owners were quick to back then manager Thomas Tuchel.
Afterward, Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella, and Wesley Fofana were all brought in for big money.
Kalidou Koulibaly came in to fill the void that was left by Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined the Blues as well to strengthen the attacking position.
Meanwhile, Aubameyang was never able to reach his potential in the end, managing to score just one Premier League goal in 15 games.
The former Arsenal striker was speaking about his spell at Stamford Bridge, admitting that he knew from December 2022 that his short time was up.
Recall that Aubameyang attained legendary stature in club football while at Arsenal between 2018 and 2022. The 34-year-old French-born Gabonese forward had to leave the Gunners in 2022 after falling out with the club’s manager, Mikel Arteta.
He was signed by FC Barcelona in February 2022. But to the amazement of fans, he decided to move to Chelsea in the summer of 2022, a move that didn’t work out well for the Gabon international.
Things were so terrible for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that he played only 15 matches in the Premier League throughout the 2022-2023 season in which he scored one league goal.
Following his struggle at Stamford Bridge, he had to move to French club side, Marseille, in 2023 where he has scored 14 league goals in 31 games.
Aubameyang opened up to L’Equipe regarding how his stint at Stamford Bridge played out.
He said; “I understood from December, that the season was over, I already wanted to leave, but you can’t play for more than three clubs.”
“I asked myself: is this what it means to be old? And I answered: It’s you who decides. Either you decide to follow this path and say to yourself maybe it’s old age. Or you say, no, that’s bullsh*t, I still have things to do.”
He added; “I was disappointed and jaded, I got a little… ‘lost,’ that’s a big word, but I let myself go.”
Thomas Tuchel, on the other hand, was the man who signed Aubameyang to Chelsea but was sacked shortly after the 34-year-old arrived from Barcelona.
Had the former PSG manager retained at the club, Aubameyang’s Chelsea career could have easily gone in a completely different path.
Tuchel, of course, worked with the former Arsenal frontman at Borussia Dortmund and got a lot out of him at the German club side.
The German’s dismissal and Graham Potter’s arrival obviously did not help Aubameyang.
He will undoubtedly go down as a Chelsea flop, managing to score just a few goals for the club, but there was a context behind his poor run in form. And let’s not forget, Chelsea as a whole were a shambles that season.
What’s next for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?
The former Borussia Dortmund striker will be seen next in action when Marseille battles Atalanta in the return leg of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, May 9, 2024.
