If Frank Lampard’s side indeed have genuine interest in the Gabon star, the Gunners and their talisman will have big choices to make in the summer
When news filtered through last week about Chelsea’s supposed interest in Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, it was a case of deja vu for the Blues’ supporters and Gooners.
Over the years, fans of the West London club have claimed three former Arsenal players who came to Stamford Bridge to win trophies: Ashley Cole in 2006, Cesc Fabregas in 2014 and Olivier Giroud in January 2018.
However, there were extenuating circumstance in these instances; Cole was dismayed by the Gunners’ contract offer, Arsene Wenger opted against re-signing the Spanish playmaker from Barcelona, while the Frenchman made the switch as he was desperate to play for France at the 2018 World Cup.
However, should Aubameyang swap North London for West London, silverware would surely be his primary motivating factor.
Arsenal fans are reliving the nightmare of seeing their best players walk out the door at the Emirates, having watched important players like Thierry Henry, Kolo Toure, Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie, to name a few, depart North London due to the club’s failure to compete for top honours.
Auba’s future has been in the air since the start of the 2019/20 campaign, but he reaffirmed his commitment to the club shortly after Mikel Arteta’s arrival, which appeared to be a wise move at the time.
With the summer transfer window approaching, and knowing the player’s situation, multiple outlets reported the Chelsea story late last week, but who would benefit from any deal – the Blues, the Gunners, or Aubameyang himself?
Frank Lampard’s first season at the helm has shown that despite Tammy Abraham’s promise, he still can’t last the rigours of an arduous season at a top side. While he overcame a tough start to the season, the young Englishman thrived in the autumn to help propel last season’s Europa League winners into the top four, until the inexperienced Blues side began to fade.
Having won one of their first four matches, Chelsea picked up 21 points from a possible 24, with Abraham scoring six goals in eight games.
However, a run of just three goals since the start of December coincided with Lampard’s side’s slump through the winter, thus jeopardising their top four finish.
Throughout their bad spell, the side were laboured in possession and struggled to create really quality chances, while lacking a frontman with the cutting edge to put chances away.
In theory, the Blues look to have solved their creativity problem with the recent acquisition of Hakim Ziyech from Ajax, and Aubameyang’s reliability in front of goal indicates he could solve goalscoring issues at the Bridge too.
In some way, this is a similar situation to where Chelsea found themselves after 2013/14 where they needed a creator and dependable striker, and Jose Mourinho signed Fabregas and Diego Costa. In 14/15, they became Premier League champions for the fourth time.
While Ziyech, an elegant wide playmaker, may not play the same position as the deep-lying creator and isn’t in the same class as the Spaniard, Aubameyang represents a world class forward like Costa was and together, the Moroccan and Gabonese stars could take Lampard’s team to the next level. Continue reading…