After signing Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski, while also renewing Ousmane Dembele, it had become clear that Barcelona had one too many forwards in their ranks. One or more players had to leave to find minutes, and the first skittle to fall was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabonese international did not want to play second fiddle to Lewandowski, and departed to join Chelsea in a deal worth nearly €11 million.
However, his stint at Chelsea has been far from all that. Aubameyang has largely been sitting on the bench under Graham Potter, and was even left out of their UEFA Champions League squad.
Barcelona tried to re-sign him in the January, but were not allowed to do that because of La Liga’s regulations.
That said, according to a report by Mundo Deportivo, Aubameyang is ‘crazy’ about joining Barcelona in the summer. The idea of signing him wins plenty of votes at the club, too.
Xavi is a fan of the player, having worked with him for half a season last year, and Auba, too, has a good relationship with the dressing room.
He was seen celebrating Barcelona’s 2-1 win against Real Madrid in the Camp Nou dressing room with his old mates. That has not gone down well with Chelsea, though, who did not like the player celebrating with Barcelona players.
Recent reports have also stated that Chelsea will not make it easy for Barcelona to sign Aubameyang in the summer, and might not allow the move to go through at all.
Barcelona, on the other hand, believe that the Blues will ease their hand come summer given Auba is not in Graham Potter’s plans, and at 34, there will not be a huge market for him either.
While Barcelona are definitely interested in Auba, he is not the first-choice striker option as they are looking at Vitor Roque in a deal that will cost around €50 million. If they move does not go through, the blaugranes will look at the Chelsea forward.
