2 years since he signed: reflecting on Aubameyang’s Arsenal career

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 03: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrates after scoring his sides fourth goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Everton at Emirates Stadium on February 3, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 03: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrates after scoring his sides fourth goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Everton at Emirates Stadium on February 3, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

It’s been 2 years to the day since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined Arsenal for a then club-record fee from Dortmund. Let’s review his Gunners career.

Who remembers “Yo Pierre, you wanna come out here?”

It was a saga that nearly broke football twitter – when Arsenal announced the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on deadline day of the 2018 January transfer window. Exactly 2 years ago to the day, to be precise. The signing was one that was greeted with jubilation from the Arsenal fanbase, and fear from the rest of the league.

Well, we can now say that both sides were correct to react in the way that they did. Aubameyang has been sublime for Arsenal in his 2 years at the club, and he has put Premier League sides to the sword week-in, week-out.

On his debut, Aubameyang scored against Everton in a dominant 5-1 Gunners win, which was highlighted by an Aaron Ramsey hat-trick and 3 assists from Henrikh Mkhitaryan. From then on, Aubameyang continued scoring goals throughout his first half-season with Arsenal – 10 goals in 13 matches to be exact. Although, he wasn’t allowed to contribute in the Europa League due to UEFA’s now extinct European cup-tie rule, which truly hampered the final few months of Arsene Wenger’s historic management career.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1223308466078568450

Aubameyang’s 2nd season was one full of successes. He finally started performing in big matches, which was something he most notably failed to do in his first half-season between February and May 2018.

Eventually finishing the 2018-19 season as the joint golden boot winner alongside Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, the Gabonese international won over nearly the entire Arsenal fanbase and became their new talisman, as Mesut Ozil shrunk into irrelevancy under Unai Emery.

Now in his 3rd season at the Emirates, Aubameyang has not slowed down one bit, even though the rest of the Arsenal team apart from Bernd Leno most certainly has. He continues to score nearly all of Arsenal’s goals away from home and chips in with many goals from half-chances, even when Emery was still managing the club.

His future is indeed uncertain, but you can bet your socks that Arsenal fans would do anything to keep Aubameyang around for a few more years, even if he is in his 30’s already. It’s not easy to replace the guaranteed goals he brings.