Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s potential move to Arsenal might be delayed by the striker’s involvement in a court case, according to reports.

The courts have scheduled Aubameyang to appear as a witness in the trial against the man who allegedly attacked the Dortmund team bus last year.

Marc Bartra had to undergo surgery as a result of the incident, and missed several weeks of football.

The current plan is that the Spaniard and the Gabon international will appear in court next Monday at 10:45am CET.

The court announced in a statement (via Express): “The jury court plans to hear one professional injured in the attack on the BVB bus, and another BVB professional on Monday, 29.”

There are a number of ways this could complicate Arsenal’s move for Aubameyang.

For a start, Dortmund and the Gunners are still currently negotiating the terms of a move. The deal isn’t moving very quickly at the moment, but they need to finalise it by next Wednesday.

It’s therefore very likely that Monday-Wednesday could be the key days to get a deal over the line. Plus, on Tuesday, Arsenal play Swansea City in the Premier League. If the club need Arsene Wenger at all for the final stages of negotiations, he’s going to be pretty preoccupied that day.

That just makes the Monday even more important.

On the other hand, Bartra will only speak for 45 minutes, according to the report. I can’t imagine they’ll need Aubameyang for much longer than that, so perhaps it’s not as big a problem as is being made out.

Arsenal and Dortmund can both easily contact the player outside of that short timeframe. The Gunners have already, reportedly, agreed personal terms, so they might not need to speak to him at all.

Overall, I think the case isn’t going to have any real impact on transfer.

Time might be running out, but there’s still enough to agree any final details with Aubameyang.

If every single member of the Dortmund staff had to appear in court, that’d be a different matter.

As it is, I’m sure it won’t be an issue.