Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wants to leave Chelsea, and the club are happy to let him go, but his exit could well prove difficult to organise this summer.
Aubameyang only joined the club on a two-year contract from Barcelona in September, yet a parting of the ways has been in the offing for some time. The 33-year-old was drafted into the Chelsea squad after a summer splurge in a bid to find a short-term fix to a long-term problem. It has not worked out.
The Gabon international has scored just three goals in 21 appearances for Chelsea this season, with his last strike coming way back in October. It has not been a happy time for Aubameyang, who was left out of the club’s squad for the Champions League and has been mainly used as a substitute in other competitions.
He has made it clear that he wants to leave when the summer transfer window opens, and where his preferred destination is. “I’d like to return to Barcelona,” he said on the DjamLife TikTok channel recently. “But we will see.”
Despite only playing 24 times for the club, Aubameyang is very well regarded at Barca, who scooped him up following his acrimonious exit from Arsenal and was welcomed back into the dressing room in March. He scored 13 times in that half-season and was only let go in September due to Barcelona’s perilous financial situation.
On the surface, a return to Catalonia looks like a good route for Chelsea, Barcelona and Aubameyang. But it is not that simple, due to both club’s situations.
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Chelsea paid Barca €11.5million (£10m) to sign Aubameyang on transfer deadline day last summer. And while they are keen to trim their massively bloated squad this summer, they cannot afford to simply allow Aubameyang to walk away.
Co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have overseen £600million of spending in the past two transfer windows and they know a continuation of their big spending is not sustainable. Financial Fair Play is looming in the background and means the Blues need to maximise the assets they want to sell.
Aubameyang is under contract until June 2024 and if they allowed him to leave for free this summer that would effectively cost them £6m. They therefore need to try their best to achieve a transfer fee in that region.
Barcelona, who are similarly restricted by financial constraints, and AC Milan are likely to hold fire in trying to sign Aubameyang, so his future could easily remain unresolved right until the end of the summer window.
Mauricio Pochettino will soon be announced as the next manager of the club, taking over from Frank Lampard at the end of the season, and the former Tottenham boss will be given a say on transfer policy.
He wants to build around younger players and Aubameyang, who turns 34 in June, does not fit into that mould.
