Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned to the Gabon national team with a goal on Thursday, his first game with them since March.

Last season, Aubameyang admitted he was considering international retirement after turning down an international call-up and publicly stating he was “extremely disappointed” with the way certain people in the Gabon setup had behaved.

The team didn’t play any fixtures without him, taking the summer and the last international break or two off. However, they had matches planned for the current break, and Gabon coach Patrice Neveu met with Aubameyang personally to convince him to return.

That meeting was successful, and Aubameyang started for Gabon against Burkina Faso on Thursday. It’s fair to say the team still aren’t exactly firing on all cylinders, but they managed to grind out a win thanks to a late penalty from Arsenal’s star man.

https://twitter.com/FrankNguema/status/1182377383778816000

It’s up for debate whether Aubameyang playing for Gabon is good news for Arsenal or not. On the one hand, he’s featuring so regularly for his club already, he doesn’t need the extra travel and additional matches on top of that.

On the other, if it keeps his hot streak of goals coming, it’s hard to complain too much about the player featuring for his country.