Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s entourage claim to be in contact with Juventus ahead of the January transfer window, according to a report.
Goal’s Juventus correspondent Romeo Agresti (via Forza Juventus) claims that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s camp are claiming to be in contact with the Serie A club.
The striker reportedly wants to return to Italy, where he played with AC Milan.
On the other hand, Agresti adds that everyone at Juventus is denying the claims. That’s not unusual when it comes to transfers, but it’s definitely worth keeping in mind.
Given Aubameyang’s difficult situation at Arsenal right now, it’s in his representatives’ interest to play up any potential transfer links. They’d want their client to seem like a player in demand, to encourage Arsenal and other buyers to act.
Perhaps that’s all it is, but with Juventus scoring the joint-fewest goals in the top half of Serie A, it’s also not impossible they might want to add a striker.
For the time being, Aubameyang is off with Gabon preparing for AFCON.
Earlier this month, Arsenal confirmed that following Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s “latest disciplinary breach”, he’ll no longer be the club captain, and he won’t be considered for selection as it stands.
Back in December of 2020, The Athletic wrote an article where they mentioned that Aubameyang had been fined for missing a Covid-19 test ahead of a European trip. This appears to be the first breach that we know of.
After that, there were a couple more public indiscretions in early 2021. First, Aubameyang was “reminded of his responsibilities” by the club after breaching Covid regulations to get a tattoo.
Then, Arsenal fans will remember that Aubameyang was dropped against Spurs for reporting late, which was “not the first time” he had reported late.
Finally, David Ornstein reports that the latest incident involved a trip to France. Despite Arsenal cracking down on trips abroad, the club had agreed to give Aubameyang special permission to go and visit his mother, as long as he returned on Wednesday night.
He didn’t return on Wednesday, coming back on Thursday instead. Though he wasn’t late for training, there were Covid testing complications with his late return.
More than that, the problem was the simple fact he’d breached the agreement in the first place.
All of that led to Aubameyang losing the captaincy, which appears to have damaged his relationship with the club. The problem is that Arsenal have been doing so well without him that they’re under no pressure to reintegrate.
A January transfer could suit all parties, but we’re a long way off that stage yet.