Borussia Dortmund appear to have adopted a new negotiation tactic by reportedly claiming they don’t think Arsenal can afford Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Dortmund seem to be bit naive when it comes to all this transfer negotiation malarkey because, at the moment, they’re coming across as sulky teenagers. They’ve shown their hand a bit too early.

According to Guillem Balagué, the Spanish football ‘expert’ who’s talking about the Gabon international switching from a German club to an English one, the Bundesliga side are sceptical that the Gunners can even afford the 28-year-old.

If this is true, all that’s missing is a dramatic hair flip.

To be fair to Balagué, for whatever reason, he was amongst the first to break the news of Arsenal’s interest.

Dortmund are fully aware that Arsenal want to sign Aubameyang. They admitted as much on Saturday when sporting director, Michael Zorc, said, amongst other things, “Arsenal have made several attempts so far [to sign Aubameyang] and they have all been rejected.”

We need a proven goalscorer, the striker has made it clear that he wants a move and we’ve sent our top men – Ivan Gazidis, Sven Mislintat and Huss Fahmy – over to sort out a deal.

They also know that we can afford it because they’ve allegedly been getting tetchy over how long it’s taking Arsenal to just hurry up and pay up the £61m they’re demanding. If they didn’t think Arsenal could afford it, why bother wasting their own time?

The Gunners were said to have made an initial bid of £50m but obviously Dortmund are trying to get more.

Both clubs want the best deal possible for themselves. Naturally.

Aubameyang played a full match for Dortmund on Saturday evening – another tactic to try and put more pressure on Arsenal.

The Bundesliga side drew 2-2 to Freiburg thanks to a last-minute goal from Jeremy Toljan.

Aubameyang managed one off-target shot and one key pass in 90 minutes, playing just 14 passes and touching the ball just 19 times. No other player who started the match, including goalkeepers, touched the ball less.