Barcelona's Aubameyang move might not be as ill-fated as it looks

Paul Macdonald

• Updated: 31 Jan 2022 18:21 CST
• 5 min read

Barcelona have signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in a move at the end of a transfer window that proved far busier for the Blaugrana than most people expected.

With the arrivals of Ferran Torres from Manchester City and Adama Traore from Wolves, plus a degree of financial gymnastics to allow the deals to go through and the players to pass La Liga's strict salary definitions, Auba's deal means that Barca are pushing problems to solve further into the future to secure the here and now.

But reports suggest that they are getting him for free, and that Aubameyang has taken a significant pay cut in order to allow the transfer to happen at all. So from that respect, it's relatively low risk for Barca.

There's a fair amount of justifiable negativity surrounding the Gabonese forward. His off-field behaviour leaves much to be desired, his recent bout of covid has led to heart concerns and his much-publicised falling out with Mikel Arteta at Arsenal led to his position within the squad being untenable in the first place.

And his perceived lack of interest on the pitch has not gone unnoticed. Some Arsenal fans appear glad to see the back of them, but there are another contingent who feel that, without replacing them, the Gunners have cut themselves off at the knees.

Let’s be clear: this solves a very significant problem if some peace can be found and he’s reintegrated.

At this point, with no signing likely, we have to try and make it work. https://t.co/ItLXONVf7v

— arseblog (@arseblog) January 31, 2022

And from that perspective, if we leave aside all of his carried drama, there are some reasons to be optimistic from what he might be able to achieve at Camp Nou.

It's worth bearing in mind that he enters a Barcelona team who have scored 32 goals in 21 games in La Liga or a return of 1.52 goals per game. In the last three seasons prior Barca had averaged 2.23, 2.26, and 2.36 goals per game in the league. Their impotency in front of goal has led to the drastic attacking moves they've made.

And, from that perspective, Aubameyang's form isn't that bad. In all competitions for Arsenal in the last four seasons, you can see his Goals P90 versus his xG P90 in the same period.

Aubameyang attacking statistics

There's an obvious drop-off from the first season when he won the Premier League Golden Boot, but his actual and expected outputs are not significantly far from where they have been.

There is a question of attitude - no question - but if the 32-year-old can find the desire to prove he still has what it takes, he still has the ability to be a useful asset in front of goal for Barcelona, particularly in games where they have struggled to break down teams.

Furthermore, when looking at his defensive statistics there doesn't seem to be a significant drop-off here, either. He is recovering the ball less in the opposition half, sure, but that wasn't a high number in the first place and much will depend on his tactical deployment.

The Auba deal does strike of desperation on Barcelona's part - of that there is no doubt. The lack of perceived analytics in the decision-making process remains clear, but this is not a normal time.

Put simply, Barca are not in a race for anything other than finishing in the top four to qualify for next season's Champions League. If Auba, on a free transfer and with limited initial outlay on salary, can score 10 goals before the end of the season, those goals will easily have been worth it.

Is it a conventional deal free of risk? No. Can it still very much work out? Of course.