Six months after Chelsea paid an eight determine sum to convey him to Stamford Bridge, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finds himself thrust past the peripheries of the squad. The striker was lower from the record of gamers registered for the Champions League knockout rounds.
Chelsea have been obliged to trim again the numbers they’d initially registered firstly of the season to make room for the brand new additions secured by the Todd Boehly consortium in a busy January window the place they spent an incomprehensible €540 million. Aubameyang finds himself the autumn man having not began for Graham Potter’s facet since November.
The choice could but show to be the loss of life knell for the 33-year-old ahead’s short-lived Chelsea profession. In 17 appearances for the Blues Aubameyang has scored three targets, although two of them got here in Champions League wins over AC Milan within the group stage. It had been urged that the previous Arsenal striker may very well be on the transfer but once more final month however, having already performed for Barcelona this season, FIFA laws successfully stopping a participant from taking part in for greater than two groups in a season left him trapped in London limbo.
With Chelsea restricted to 3 new additions to the squad within the Champions League, heart again Benoit Badiashile, an everyday starter since arriving from Monaco final month, has additionally missed out on a spot in Potter’s group. Instead it’s Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk and Premier League file signing Enzo Fernandez who’ve been added to the choice.
Hakim Ziyech, who solely missed out on a deadline day transfer to Paris Saint-Germain resulting from points with paperwork, stays within the squad. United States males’s nationwide group ahead Christian Pulisic, sidelined till March after struggling an harm, can be on the record. Chelsea face Borussia Dortmund within the spherical of 16, the primary leg of which takes place on the Westfalenstadion on February 15 (you may catch all of the Champions League motion on Paramount+).
Aubameyang’s absence from the Chelsea squad will immediate additional questions over the recruitment plans of Chelsea’s new homeowners, who signed the Gabon worldwide on deadline day in September as Thomas Tuchel was eager to reunite with a participant he coached with larger success at Dortmund. Six days later Tuchel was sacked, a choice that possession stated they’d been contemplating for a while previous to the German’s eventual dismissal.
Since then Aubameyang has began simply 4 Premier League video games, the newest a 1-0 defeat towards his former facet Arsenal. He has not been named in a beginning XI in any competitors by Potter since and in a loss to Manchester City final month he was introduced on within the fifth minute solely to be withdrawn simply over an hour later.
