Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has opened up on his decision to leave Barcelona for Chelsea in the summer of 2022, and how the striker wishes he had made a different call.
Aubameyang joined Barça in the January transfer window that year and had a sensational impact for Xavi Hernández’s team, scoring 13 goals in 24 appearances, including a brace in a famous 4-0 win in El Clasico, on his way to becoming a fan-favorite at Camp Nou.
But Auba was the victim of Barça’s financial troubles and had to be sold that summer to help finance three huge signings by the Blaugrana in Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde, and ended up going to Stamford Bridge where he had a miserable season.
And speaking in an interview on YouTube this week, Auba certainly regrets making the move to Chelsea.
“That was a big mistake going there. It was a f big mistake. At that time, I had a bad moment in Barcelona. I had a home break-in and Barca needed to sell a player — me or Memphis Depay — and the only thing that was on the table was Chelsea. So I said, ‘OK, for my family, I will move away, even if it’s Chelsea.’
“I was thinking maybe it will be OK, Olivier Giroud went from Arsenal to Chelsea and he had no problems, but for me it was different.”
There’s still an alternate universe in which Aubameyang could have stayed at Barça, since a lot of his salary, which was removed from the books for Financial Fair Play reasons, went to the likes of Marcos Alonso and Franck Kessie who either barely played or performed very poorly, and one can only imagine how well Auba would have done as Lewandowski’s backup or even playing alongside him as a left winger.
But all of that is in the past, and Barça fans can still enjoy the memories of Auba’s wildly productive and entertaining six months in a Blaugrana shirt.
