Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been in the spotlight for both his goalscoring ability and his character this week.
At his former club AC Milan last night, the 33-year-old scored his third goal in three games, finishing off a good move to effectively kill the match off in the first half.
He then posted on social media after the match a picture of him flying through the air in celebration with a caption which simply read: “Emotions”.
It highlighted what a special moment this was for a player who failed to make the grade at Milan as a teenager.
This week, Aubameyang went on social media to explain his latest criticism of his former manager Mikel Arteta. That came after a video emerged of Aubameyang during his time at Barcelona, claiming the Spaniard cannot manage big players, which reignited their feud.
Clarifying his comments on Twitter, Aubameyang said: “Aware there is a video out that was recorded just after I arrived at Barca.
“At the time I still had a lot of bad feelings in me — Arsenal are doing great things this season and I wish all my old guys well, just not on November 6. Now full focus on tomorrow.”
Seven months after his Arsenal exit, Aubameyang is looking back on top form at Chelsea.
He moved to Stamford Bridge for £14million to link up with his former manager Thomas Tuchel at a club that was desperate for his goals.
But he had just one training session and a 59-minute display under Tuchel before the German was sacked and replaced by Graham Potter.
Much like Aubameyang’s criticism of Arteta, there were questions over whether Potter would be able to handle big egos in the Chelsea dressing room.
Potter had never managed big players at his former clubs. At Ostersunds, he was heralded as a genius-like figure for masterminding their rise from the bottom to the top of Swedish football.
Swansea had more challenging characters before he arrived at Brighton, where the recruitment process avoided players with question marks over their personalities.
Many felt Aubameyang might be trouble for Potter but he has thrust his No9 to the forefront of his plans.
“No, we’ve not done anything special, it’s all down to him,” Potter said, when asked by Standard Sport about how he has got Aubameyang onside.
“He has been building his fitness up. We spoke before that he came from a difficult summer so it’s been a case of building up his match minutes up and the more he gets the stronger he gets, and the more we understand him the more he understands us.
We’ve not done anything special, it’s all down to him.”
“Everyone knows his quality and it’s great for him. The key is for him to enjoy his football and be an important player which he is for us. He looks like he is enjoying it and scoring goals is important to him.”
Simply put, Chelsea are supplying the right kind of chances for a player renowned for being an excellent finisher.
Potter changes his system around Aubameyang in almost every game but he has delivered whether as a solo striker or within a front two.
Additionally, Aubameyang has impressed everyone behind the scenes with his attitude, always saying yes to doing extra media or commercial work.
He has quickly built relationships with the players in the squad and the support staff around them.
He feels important and knows London, all of which has contributed to a rapid settling-in period.
Some at Chelsea genuinely believed their No9 shirt was cursed but Aubameyang opted to take on the challenge.
It is that big character that allows him to do so — and he has delivered with three goals in his last three games.
Chelsea are now in pole position to qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League ahead of their final two group matches, away at RB Salzburg and home to Dinamo Zagreb.
“We know that we haven’t got enough points now so we have to keep going,” said Potter, whose side are away at Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.
“The next match in the competition is Salzburg away which is another tough one but in between we’ve got some Premier League games and we have to focus on that, then we’ll be ready for Salzburg.”
