Chelsea move to reassure Aubameyang after Tuchel sacking
FT Desk
- 8 Sept 2022 14:00 BST
- 3 min read
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's reunion with Thomas Tuchel last 59 minutes of football before the latter was sacked as manager. Todd Boehly and Co. have moved to reassure the new striker.
Aubameyang has had a difficult time of things of late. Once Arsenal's captain, he was allowed to leave the Gunners on a free transfer at the start of this year after falling out with Mikel Arteta.
He signed for Barcelona in February, ended the campaign as their 13-goal top scorer despite only playing half a season, and Barca duly signed his former Borussia Dortmund teammate Robert Lewandowski for €50 million from Bayern Munich.
Aubameyang 🤝 Tuchel.
😥 The reunion lasted 59 minutes. pic.twitter.com/sHILtCZEOR— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) September 7, 2022
With his path to first-team football blocked at Camp Nou, Aubameyang joined Chelsea in a €12m deal on transfer deadline day. Having previously played under Tuchel at Dortmund, enjoying 104 goals in 141 games together, the striker was excited to be reunited.
Auba: 'An honour and a joy'
"It'll be an honour and a joy again," he said. "We had some good times in Dortmund together, so I'm really happy to play for him again. We'll achieve some big things, I'm sure of this and I'll try to help the team."
Their reunion lasted less than an hour of football, with Aubameyang making way for Armando Broja 59 minutes into Chelsea's 1-0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday in what was Tuchel's last game in charge.
Related articles
"New co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali addressed the Chelsea squad on Wednesday after the sacking of Tuchel," write the Telegraph. "And it is understood a personal call went into Aubameyang to explain the situation and assure him that it did not impact on his own status at the club.
There was a realisation that the news of Tuchel’s dismissal would come as a particular surprise to Aubameyang, who had originally factored in his former coach's presence to his decision to leave Barca after just six months in Spain."
Aubameyang is thought to have been reassured by the new ownership's actions; and convinced that he was a club signing as much as a personal one.
