Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been branded a “band aid” signing by the Blues that doesn’t really fit into their overall transfer strategy.
Since taking over at Stamford Bridge, Todd Boehly has mainly prioritised the signings of some of the finest young talents in world football, such as Enzo Fernandez, Andrey Santos, Mykhaylo Mudryk and Benoit Badiashile.
Aubameyang, by contrast, was a short-term addition to the squad to deal with the issues the club had up front at the time, according to Ben Jacobs in his exclusive CaughtOffside column.
The Gabon international could now have offers in the MLS, with his future at Chelsea surely over.
“Aubameyang knows he’s out of the picture at Chelsea. This was shown by his exclusion from the Champions League squad and omission from the matchday squad for the 0-0 draw with Fulham,” Jacobs said.
“The truth is Aubameyang was a very ‘un-Chelsea-like’ signing when you consider their current project. The owners, and new recruitment team, have clearly learnt a lot and adapted from a frantic summer.
“January shows the long-term strategy in play, which in the most basic terms is to invest in youth on long-term contracts and view transfer fees as investments not expenses. Aubameyang doesn’t fit that strategy. He was more of a ‘band aid’ signing given Romelu Lukaku had been loaned to Inter and even Armando Broja’s future wasn’t entirely clear when he arrived.”
Chelsea fans will be disappointed that this didn’t work out, but one imagines the west London giants will again take to the transfer market for a new centre forward in the summer.
Aubameyang previously had a fine career at Arsenal until things ended on a bit of a sour note, and he also did well in his relatively brief stint at Barcelona, so he may well feel he has one more big move in him.