Incoming Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang delivered an ominous message for Arsenal fans after arriving in London to complete his medical. The 33-year-old left the Gunners a matter of months ago after a spat with manager Mikel Arteta, and he could make them pay for shipping him out of north London by hitting form for their local rivals.
Arsenal boss Arteta faced intense scrutiny for his decision to part ways with Aubameyang, considering the prolific rate at which he had scored for the Gunners over the previous four years. While Arteta and his side have kicked on since, the Gabonese frontman could still inflict some pain on his former employers by helping out their cross-city foes.
Aubameyang was pounced on by reporters as he arrived in London to complete the final details of his move from Barcelona. When asked whether it was great to be back in the Premier League, he simply responded: “I’m back.”
The former Borussia Dortmund and Saint-Etienne forward kept things brief as his entourage attempted to block the camera from filming his arrival. He did, however, confirm that he was looking forward to the challenge and linking up with Thomas Tuchel, before pledging to ‘try his best’ for the Blues.
It took Chelsea until deadline day to come to an agreement for Aubameyang, who was allowed to leave Barcelona following the summer arrival of Robert Lewandowski. The Catalan side have had trouble registering players due to their tricky financial situation and offloading such an established star will take some strain off their wage bill.
Although Barca supposedly resisted the idea of a swap deal at first, the Blues eventually negotiated a player-plus-cash arrangement with £10million and Marcos Alonso reportedly heading to the Camp Nou in exchange for Aubameyang.
Aubameyang’s arrival will take Chelsea’s total summer outlay to a new world record amount, finishing up just shy of £300m. Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella and Raheem Sterling commanded the highest transfer fees with Todd Boehly making a splash during his first summer as co-owner.
A rejuvenated squad is yet to translate onto the pitch, however, with Tuchel overseeing just two wins in the first five games of the season. He will hope to return to winning ways on Saturday against West Ham, although he won’t have Aubameyang to call on with the striker set for a spell on the sidelines after a violent home robbery in Barcelona this week.
