Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Barcelona buy forward on a free transfer after Arsenal departure
Key takeaways:
- Aubameyang netted seven goals in 15 matches for Arsenal this season.
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has entered Barcelona on a free transfer after departing Arsenal, with the move to be declared on Tuesday.
Aubameyang joins Barcelona:
The 32-year-old Gabon forward signed the agreement late on Monday evening.
Aubameyang has not played for the Gunners since a punishing violation in December but scored 92 goals in 163 matches before that.
Barcelona worried the move was over earlier on transfer deadline day, even though Aubameyang had fled to Spain.
He had also been connected with a switch to Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr.
The ex-Arsenal captain's exit will keep the Gunners - who purchased him for £56m from Borussia Dortmund in 2018 - almost £15m in earnings. But it departs boss Mikel Arteta with Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah as his strikers for the rest of the season.
Aubameyang was sent home earlier from the Africa Cup of Nations in January because of continued health problems.
The striker missed Gabon's draw with Ghana after scans indicated "heart lesions" following a bout of Covid, although later scans gave him the all-clear.
The report of the contract
Spanish football writer Guillem Balague:
Aubameyang got a personal jet to take him to Barcelona, and the Spanish club had reserved a medical for him because it looked like the move was heading to happen.
It wasn't connected to Ousmane Dembele's exit from the Nou Camp, but Barca would have been capable of paying more effective earnings if the French winger had gone.
Then, at 6 pm, it glanced like the move was not going to occur, and the economic distinctions between the two clubs were too significant.
This entire affair has been relayed to us nearly minute-by-minute by Barca president Joan Laporta, who is at a Mundo Deportivo awards event. Laporta is in the business of giving expectancy to the fans and has been defining the condition as it develops.