Chelsea have reportedly submitted a bid of £15m as they try to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona.

Despite all that Barcelona have said about wanting to keep Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the club, they reportedly put him on a list of players for sale not long after he arrived for free from Arsenal as a ‘gift fallen from the sky‘.

They are, of course, a financial basket-case of a club, so the chance to get a hefty chunk of change for an ageing player they got for free no doubt turns them on. As does the thought of not having to pay Auba his proper wage after he took a paycut to facilitate the move.

Chelsea had already reportedly submitted a bid of €14m for Aubameyang, which was rejected. The Catalans wanted over €20m earlier in the week, but that has now gone up in media reports to €30m.

After Aubameyang’s reps held a ‘positive meeting’ with Chelsea, the West London side have now submitted a bid of £15m (€16.5m).

It remains to be seen if that will be enough to make Barcelona sell, but with the end of the transfer window approaching, it would be a foolish person who bet against Aubameyang seeing out the rest of the season as a Chelsea player.