Borussia Dortmund’s former manager has revealed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ‘skipped team meetings and refused to train’ in order to force through a £56m transfer to Arsenal last season.
Aubameyang spent four-and-a-half extremely successful seasons at the Westfalenstadion, scoring 141 goals in just over 200 appearances for the German side.
Midway through last season he moved to north London in a club-record deal, but former Dortmund manager Peter Stoger has revealed that the club only sold the player because he pushed so hard for the move.
“He left me no other choice,” Stoger told Sport Bild.
Sporting vs Arsenal
1/11 Bernd Leno – 7
2/11 Stephan Lichtsteiner – 7
3/11 Sokratis Papastathopoulos – 6
4/11 Rob Holding – 6
5/11 Granit Xhaka – 5
6/11 Aaron Ramsey – 7
7/11 Matteo Guendouzi – 7
8/11 Mohamed Elneny – 6
9/11 Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 6
10/11 Danny Welbeck – 8
11/11 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 7
1/11 Bernd Leno – 7
2/11 Stephan Lichtsteiner – 7
3/11 Sokratis Papastathopoulos – 6
4/11 Rob Holding – 6
5/11 Granit Xhaka – 5
6/11 Aaron Ramsey – 7
7/11 Matteo Guendouzi – 7
8/11 Mohamed Elneny – 6
9/11 Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 6
10/11 Danny Welbeck – 8
11/11 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 7
“He trained well four days of the week. But to underline his wish for a transfer, he skipped team meetings before games or refused to run during the final training.
“We did our best to keep him for at least another half a year, but Auba wasn’t ready for that.”
Dortmund’s loss has proven Arsenal’s gain: Aubameyang has hit the ground running for Arsenal and already has 17 goals in just 23 Premier League appearances.
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