Barcelona have completed the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on a free transfer from Arsenal on a dramatic transfer deadline day.
The 32-year-old will move to the Camp Nou on an 18-month contract after the Gunners waived any transfer fee in order to make the move permanent.
Aubameyang had flown to the Catalan capital earlier on Monday in a surprise development to both clubs as no agreement had been reached despite ongoing negotiations.
Talks appeared to break down as no agreement could be found on the salary split of a loan deal, but there was a breakthrough on Monday evening with the clubs agreeing a permanent deal.
Aubameyang has now left Arsenal permanently after four years and less than three months since he last captained the side.
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The Gabonese striker had not played for the Gunners since 5 December after being disciplined by boss Mikel Arteta.
Aubameyang was ostracised by Arteta who instructed the club to offload the player this month as he continued to trim the first-team squad.
Arsenal were keen to facilitate his permanent exit and waive a transfer fee due to the significant savings they will make on Aubameyang’s salary.
The 32-year-old was on a weekly wage of £350k – comfortably the highest earner in Arteta’s squad following the contract agreed in the summer of 2020 – with his exit forecast to save the club £25million in outgoings.
The striker scored 92 goals for Arsenal across 163 first-team appearances since his January 2018 arrival from Borussia Dortmund, including seven goals in 15 outings this campaign.
Aubameyang’s exit leaves Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah – both of whom are out of contract this summer – as the only senior strikers in Arteta’s squad.
The former Dortmund striker is the sixth player to exit the Emirates this month following the loan exit of Folarin Balogun to Middlesbrough with Ainsley Maitland-Niles joining Roma on loan and Pablo Mari making a temporary move to Udinese, while Callum Chambers and Sead Kolasinac joined Aston Villa and Marseille respectively on free transfers.
The transfer of Aubameyang concludes a busy month of incomings at the Camp Nou, with Barca also completing the signing of Ferran Torres, Dani Alves and Adama Traore in January.
Xavi’s side currently languish in fifth position in the standings in La Liga and a whopping 15 points off league leaders Real Madrid.
Barca have endured a difficult campaign which saw them exit the Champions League group stages while they were eliminated from both the Spanish Supercopa and Copa del Rey earlier this month.
The Catalan club now appear to be top-heavy with attacking players with Aubameyang joining Ousmane Dembele, Ansu Fati, Memphis Depay, Ferran Torres, Martin Braithwaite and Luuk de Jong in the first-team squad.
