05 August 2023 , 08:50
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has fired a parting shot at Chelsea after ending his nightmare spell at Stamford Bridge.
Aubameyang left Arsenal for Barcelona in January 2022, and duly shone with the Catalan giants. He scored 13 times in his six-month spell in Spain, but the club's financial restrictions prevented them from offering him a longer deal.
But the Blues duly pounced, with the Gabon striker returning to London for an apparent bargain £10.3million fee. However, a disastrous 12 months followed, with Aubameyang making just 21 appearances in all competitions - mostly from the bench - scoring three times.
He was duly axed from the club this summer upon the arrival of new manager Mauricio Pochettino, signing a three-year deal with Ligue 1 side Marseille. And after being unveiled by the French club, the 34-year-old was asked why he had been unable to mirror the form he displayed with Barca.
"I think it's simple to explain.," he said. "The manner in which I was received by both the players and the staff, at Chelsea, the context was a bit different. Because I arrived at Chelsea in no small part due to Thomas Tuchel, and a week later, he had been sacked.”
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Tuchel was duly replaced by Graham Potter, whose ill-fated spell in charge ended before the conclusion of the 2022-23 campaign. Frank Lampard then returned as interim boss, and like his predecessor favoured makeshift strikers as opposed to Aubameyang.
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And the forward also hinted the behind-the-scenes chaos contributed to his struggles: “So the two contexts were not at all similar, it was not easy for me, and that had an influence," he continued. "From there I basically didn’t play anymore. And then later there were problems of a different nature that were not my fault.”
Aubameyang previously scored 92 times for Arsenal in a four year spell, fulfilling expectations following his £56m move from Borussia Dortmund. However, his spell in north London ended in acrimonious circumstances.
Having captaining Arsenal to FA Cup glory in the 2019/20 campaign, he was later stripped of the honour by manager Mikel Arteta and dropped from the squad after a breach of discipline. Just days later, he was released by what both parties described as 'mutual consent'.