Mauricio Pochettino and Todd Boehly have been left embarrassed by a Chelsea transfer decision made during the 2023 summer window. Boehly sanctioned the arrival of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang during his first season at Stamford Bridge, before Pochettino allowed the experienced striker to leave in the summer – a move which doesn’t appear to have aged well.
Aubameyang cost Chelsea a hefty £10million on deadline day two years ago, with the ex-Arsenal man brought in to play under Thomas Tuchel. Much to Aubameyang’s frustration, Tuchel was sacked just one week later, with Graham Potter taking over from the German coach. Suffice to say Potter wasn’t a fan of Aubameyang, as the Gabon international featured 22 times across all competitions while managing to score just three goals in a Chelsea shirt.
Both Chelsea and Aubameyang were quick to cut their relationship short in the summer, as the 34-year-old penned a move to former club Marseille, with Pochettino not even considering the striker as part of his plans. Fast forward less than one year later and both Pochettino and Boehly have been left red-faced, as Aubameyang has found his form at Marseille and is enjoying a rich vein of scoring form.
After two-thirds of the campaign, Aubameyang has netted a tidy 23 goals from 39 appearances so far. Averaging over a goal per game, the former Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona star is putting up the sort of numbers in attack that Chelsea have needed this season. Languishing outside the top half of the Premier League table, Chelsea have scored just 45 goals this season – an average of under two per match.
Cole Palmer (14) and Nicolas Jackson (12) are the only Chelsea players with over eight goals across all competitions, and even if the club’s two highest scorers combined their tallies, it is only just ahead of Aubameyang’s count for the campaign. Granted, Ligue 1 is obviously a less competitive division, with Aubameyang also playing for one of the best teams in the French first tier.
But given Chelsea have struggled in the final third all season, what’s to say Aubameyang wouldn’t have had a part to play? Instead, it now looks as if Boehly will once again have to get his chequebook out in the summer, with Pochettino hoping to add – a no doubt costly – centre forward to Chelsea’s ranks.
