Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has disclosed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s departure to Barcelona was a joint decision.
According to the Spaniard, it was decided by three parties: Arsenal, Aubameyang and Barcelona.
Recall that the Gabon striker saw his contract with the Gunners terminated in January, in order to sign for the LaLiga giants as a free agent.
“We often make decisions in the best interests of the club and to get the best performances from the team.
“We made that decision as three parties. One was the club, one was Auba, and the other was Barcelona. The three of us believed it was the right thing to do,” Arteta told Sky Sports.
Aubameyang has been performaning well since he arrived in Spain, scoring five times so far for Barca.
Few Things That You May Not Have Known About Aubameyang
After belonging to various clubs as a youth, with AC Milan included, Aubameyang made his senior debut in 2008/09 at Dijon in the French second division, on loan at the time from the Italian outfit. He grabbed the attention of a number of Ligue 1 teams, and would have spells at Lille (2009/10), AS Monaco (2010/11) and Saint Etienne (2011/13).
His next port of call was Borussia Dortmund in 2013, where he spent four and a half seasons, scoring 141 goals to earn his reputation as one of the sharpest shooters in the continent, topping the Bundesliga goalscoring charts in 2017 with 31 goals.
In the 2018 winter transfer window, he was signed by Arsenal, where he has been for the last four years. He was top goalscorer in the Premiership in 2019 with 22 goals.
On an individual level, he was named the African Player of the Year and Bundesliga Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
His various team titles include the French League Cup with Saint Etienne (2013), the German Cup with Dortmund (2017) and the FA Cup with Arsenal (2020).
He has 72 full international caps for Gabon, scoring 30 goals.
Aubameyang is a remarkably fast striker and has an eye for goal, having racked up over 300 as a professional. His powerful but accurate shooting have made him one of the most feared goal-getters in the European game.
He is versatile enough to play anywhere in attack, sometimes out wide and sometimes in the center. His height (1.87m) coupled with his strength and acceleration mean he is especially dangerous when given space to move in. He is also a fine dribbler, reads the game to perfection and is extremely adept at producing combination moves out of nowhere.
