Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has dropped a crucial update over Chelsea’s pursuit of landing a striker before the summer window shuts. The Blues had sort out multiple options before closing in on Barcelona’s Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang. However, a deal seemed bit complicated with the Catalan club demanding their asking price bet met by Chelsea.
Chelsea have already lost two strikers this transfer window after Romelu Lukaku rejoined Inter Milan on loan, and Timo Werner sealed a permanent move back to RB Leipzig. That left Thomas Tuchel with academy star Armando Broja as the only forward, who returned from an impressive loan spell at Southampton. Tuchel still wanted to add one more, experienced striker with Aubameyang his preferred player.
Advanced negotiation- Romano on Chelsea’s Aubameyang deal with Barca
Aubameyang could be on the move once again after he left Arsenal in January earlier this year to join Barcelona. However, his farewell from the London club was not so ‘merry’ one since he had his contract terminated by the Gunners after his fall out with manager Mikel Arteta over a disciplinary breach. But he resumed his routine work at Camp Nou, scoring 11 goals in just 17 La Liga appearances.
On the other hand, the Catalans went for Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski this summer which has evidently hampered Aubameyang’s game time at the club. With Gabonese striker looking for more minutes, Chelsea arrived with Tuchel wanting his former associate from Borussia Dortmund at Stamford Bridge.
As Fabrizio Romano reports, the two clubs are in negotiations since the last week, and are now in ‘advanced’ stages. While speaking on GiveMeSport, the Italian journalist said:
“For Aubameyang, there is an advanced negotiation with Barcelona. It’s already agreed on the player’s side and they’re working on very different things.”
While the player is understood to have agreed personal terms with the West Londoners, Romano himself had reported earlier that the two clubs are still in intense talks over agreeing a fee. Barcelona have put a €30 million price tag on their striker, which Chelsea are reluctant to pay. They feel paying €30m would be an ‘overpayment’ for the 33-year-old player who won’t be starting week-in week-out.
However, Aubameyang is hoping to return to England in order to gain regular minutes under his former boss. The striker’s previous stint in England was a hit one, as he went on to net a massive 92 goals in 163 appearances for Arsenal. He further helped them to a FA Cup as well as a Community Shield, also winning the Premier League golden boot during the 2018/19 season.
Chelsea will have to accelerate their efforts if they are to acquire the services of Aubameyang before the deadline of September 1. They are currently occupied with other deals as well, after recently closing a deal for Leicester City’s Wesley Fofana and opening talks with Leipzig center-back Josko Gvardiol.