Graham Potter has revealed that he decided to drop Pierre Emerick Aubameyang from Chelsea’s Champions League squad, before leaving him out in the 0-0 draw at home to Fulham.
The 33-year-old missed his side’s disappointing night where five January signings played in front of co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali but were unable to secure all three points.
After spending over £300million on eight players in January, the Blues have a 33-man squad and will have to leave big-name players out on each matchday.
Asked whether it was his decision to leave out the former Arsenal striker, Potter insisted it was: “It was my decision. It was a tough decision absolutely, sometimes you have to make these calls but it’s absolutely nothing bad against him. He’s done nothing wrong at all.”
He was pressed on whether Aubameyang will be difficult to manage following his omission from a match against his former club Borussia Dortmund in the last-16.
He said: “I don’t think it’s going to be difficult because Pierre is a professional and of course, I understand he will be disappointed.
“It was a tough decision, a tough call. We had three coming in and two had to go out. He was the one that missed out, he’s done nothing wrong at all.”
Aubameyang has been pictured on holiday with his family in Milan after being left out. Potter explained that it is a sanctioned trip and he is due back in training on Sunday.
“He trained today, he trained very well and he’s got the weekend off so we can report on Monday. It’s a free world.”
