Aubameyang proving one of Chelsea's biggest transfer disasters
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang suffered the ignominy of a substitute being subbed off in Chelsea's 1-0 loss to Manchester City last week. Fast-forward to the second meeting in four days between the pair, and Aubameyang missed out on the matchday squad entirely. A back injury was cited for his absence at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
On Thursday night, Aubameyang replaced the injured Raheem Sterling, but lasted just 63 minutes before the striker, and the similarly poor Marc Cucurella, were withdrawn for Omari Hutchinson and Lewis Hall as head coach Graham Potter turned to youth in search of a result. While an equaliser was not forthcoming in Chelsea's home defeat, Aubameyang's performance will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
During his time on the pitch, Aubameyang managed just one touch in the opposition box, that level with centre-backs Thiago Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly and Nathan Ake, as he returned a WhoScored rating of just 5.62, that his fourth lowest in a match that WhoScored have data for. In total, Aubameyang has managed just 13 touches inside the opposition penalty box across his nine Premier League appearances for Chelsea this season, level with centre-backs Koulibaly, Eric Dier and Kurt Zouma, and fewer than the likes of Joachim Andersen (20), Armel Bella-Kotchap (19), Ben White (18) and Ake (15), to name four. Aubameyang hasn't been a regular starter for Chelsea, but even so; you'd expect a striker to touch the ball more than a centre-back in the opposition box.
It's fair to say that Aubameyang's move to Chelsea has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. A WhoScored rating of 6.16 is the fifth lowest of the 322 players to have registered at least 350 minutes of 2022/23 Premier League action, with the Gabon international finding the back of the net just the once in England's top tier this term, that coming in his debut against Crystal Palace at the start of October. The curse of the number 9 shirt at Stamford Bridge strikes again.
In this instance, though, Aubameyang's shortcomings are hardly his fault entirely. Granted, he was brought in to put the ball in the back of the net, but the main issue is that Aubameyang was signed when a different manager as at the the Stamford Bridge helm. Joining with Thomas Tuchel in charge, the hope in west London was that the Gabonese hitman was settle quickly under a familiar boss. The pair enjoyed a fruitful relationship during their respective time together at Borussia Dortmund, and those at Chelsea had hoped the duo would shine together again.
Five days after joining from Barcelona, Tuchel was relieved of his duties at Chelsea, with Graham Potter brought in as his replacement. Unsurprisingly, Aubameyang has struggled under Potter on the rare occasion he has featured. The striker has, after all, managed just three shots on target in the Premier League this season, the last of which came at the end of October against Brighton.
There's a reason Potter prefers Kai Havertz over the experienced Aubameyang in attack, with the German offering more in possession and off the ball by comparison to his 33-year-old teammate. Previously Aubameyang would see little of the ball in matches, and instead spring to life when his team made their move to goal, maximising his explosive pace as he hung on the shoulder of the last defender, so it wasn't uncommon to see the forward have few touches during his time on the pitch, but find his name on the scoresheet.
However, as Aubameyang enters the twilight years of his career, that burst of pace has begun to desert him, and when you consider he doesn't really offer much when in possession, this approach means he is relatively defunct in Potter's Chelsea system. Since taking over from Tuchel back in September, the Blues' average of 723.3 touches per game is the fourth most in the division, showing how much Chelsea see of the ball. Over that same period, Aubameyang has averaged 12.7 touches per game, a significant drop in Havertz's return of 38.5.
As one might expect, Aubemeyang doesn't suit Potter-ball, so it's no shock that Chelsea have been encouraged to sell the former Barcelona man this month. To have been left out of the matchday squad in the Blues' FA Cup defeat to City entirely is telling, even if injury was the reason for his absence. That said, the club itself are partly to blame in Aubameyang's downfall at Chelsea having spent big on players for Tuchel's squad, only to sack the German days after the transfer window closed.
Nevertheless, even in signing Aubameyang, Chelsea were landing a frontman that, in truth, didn't match Tuchel's demands anyway. Romelu Lukaku was a flop on his second stint at Stamford Bridge in part due to the lack of selflessness to his game, and it's a similar story for Aubameyang. It's nothing personal Pierre-Emerick, but the move was never a perfect match for both player and club, and that has become increasingly obvious in recent weeks.
