In a piece for the Daily Mail, writer Sami Mokbel has done a pretty solid job of painting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as the villain ahead the North London Derby on Saturday.
Most stories, fictional or not, have to have a strong narrative in order to get the audience hooked and it appears that the Daily Mail have picked theirs when it comes to Arsenal and Spurs ahead of the North London Derby. And it’s a pretty lazy one.
Mokbel has painted the Gunners’ new striker as a ‘flash showman’ compared to Kane as the ‘clean cut hero’ ahead of the tie.
He writes about Aubameyang’s previous indiscretions, which include showing a 10-man Red Bull camera crew around Dortmund’s training ground last year and sporting a Nike-themed mask during a goal celebration when the Bundesliga side are sponsored by Puma. He pays these far more attention than the 28-year-old’s goalscoring exploits or previous on-pitch accomplishments.
Kane, on the other hand, is described as “the complete package – a goal machine, leader on the pitch and public relations dream away from it”.
Interestingly, nothing is said about the 24-year-old’s most recent dive against Liverpool or his subsequent comments.
10 days after Aubameyang signed for Arsenal, the piece questions why the Gabon international only cost the Gunners £56m, which is practically peanuts for a top striker in the current market.
Obviously it’s because he’s the devil incarnate, the piece hints. Dortmund, apparently, just couldn’t wait to get rid of him and no one else wanted him.
Just in case the piece was being too subtle, they’ve included a little “Have Arsenal signed their own Kane?” graphic.
Annoyingly for the Gunners’ rival teams, Aubameyang hit the ground running after his move to the Premier League. In fact, it only took him 37 minutes to get off the mark for Arsenal during their 5-1 win over Everton last weekend.
Therefore, perhaps it’s easier for the Spurs-loving media to paint him as some sort of evil genius, or animal Arsene Wenger has to tame, instead of just a genuinely brilliant striker who can be bit of a tool off the pitch.
Kane, meanwhile, is just a good dude. The kind of stand-up guy you would want to have a pint with and invite around to Sunday lunch. What a ‘hero’ that man is.
“I agree, he is a hero,” the piece reports Mauricio Pochettino as saying. “We read the other day an article and we got emotional. He explained his life, how he thinks, how he does everything.
“He has grown in the last three and a half years and we know how tough it was for him to achieve all that he is achieving now. He is a good example for everyone.”
Hopefully we will all be able to see Aubameyang play at Wembley on Saturday afternoon as long as the glow from Kane’s halo is not too dazzling.