Chelsea boss Graham Potter has insisted that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang still has a future at the Blues, despite being left out of their Champions League squad.
The striker joined Chelsea from Barcelona in the summer, but has struggled for form this season. He has scored just three goals in all competitions, having made 17 appearances since his move to Stamford Bridge.
With the Blues signing eight players over the course of the January transfer window, tough decisions were needed when it came to registering them all. One of those decisions was taking Aubameyang out of the squad available for the Champions League knockout stages.
He was also given this weekend off, meaning he missed Chelsea's goalless draw with Fulham on Friday night, with David Datro Fofana featuring instead. And Potter insisted that the decision to take him out of the Champions League squad was no reflection on his ability.
"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," he said.
"We wanted to give David some game time today to see where he's at and to give him that opportunity. I think you saw that one flash that he's got. Pierre is just unfortunate and he will be fighting for his place for the rest of the season.
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"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."
Potter also made it clear that Aubameyang can still reclaim a place in his plans for the Blues. His last start came in November's defeat to Arsenal, but Potter believes the striker can bounce back from his latest disappointment.
"Yeah, absolutely. Everything is up for grabs. He's got to keep working, train like he did today and be ready to play because football changes quickly. That's the nature of the game," Potter added.
"Whichever decision we made there was always going to be a conversation about it but 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.
"It was difficult because I am empathetic so I understand his disappointment but I've got a responsibility to make these tough decisions and to articulate them as honestly and as well as I can to the player and then respect the fact that he's going to be disappointed.
"He's handled it very well, trained today fantastically which is what I would expect. He's been a top guy for us."
