Barcelona will accept an offer for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Chelsea in the region of half what they paid for Robert Lewandowski, according to a report.
Chelsea have been linked with a move for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang over the past few weeks but, after submitting an initial bid, the Spaniards told them it wasn’t good enough.
Chelsea are believed to have put together quite an impressive financial package for the forward, who went to s**t when he was earning £300,000-a-week at Arsenal.
It is claimed they will double his current wages.
When Mikel Arteta decided he wanted rid of Aubameyang, Barcelona snapped him up for free with Xavi calling the deal a ‘gift’ that had ‘fallen from the sky’.
No wonder.
They brought him in on reduced wages, which Arsenal helped cover for the second half of the 21/22 season, and now they could collect up to €25m (£21m) without having to raise Auba’s wages, as they promised.
Chelsea initially offered €14m (£11.8m).
Plus, Barcelona would get a 33-year-old striker, whose form only ever goes down after an impressive start at a club, off their books, freeing up space in their squad for a younger, more dynamic player.
While Barcelona have been quite coy about their desire to sell Aubameyang, claiming that they don’t really want to, a report in Spain from not long after the Gabonese signed claimed he was one of 25 players put up for sale by the club.
Given that Arsenal cancelled Auba’s contract, there is also the real possibility that they will get nothing in terms of a sell-on fee, although somebody at the club should have made sure that didn’t happen.
In fact, due to Arsenal letting Aubameyang leave for free, they should receive a larger sell-on percentage than normal but, as we know, this is Barcelona and they will happily steal your cash while shaking your hand and smiling.
Aubameyang played just eight minutes of Barcelona’s first game of the La Liga season against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday which they drew 0-0 at home. He touched the ball four times.
He is valued at around £13m.