Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has reflected on the “mess” he experienced at Chelsea and says Thomas Tuchel was not the same manager he knew from Borussia Dortmund.
New England head coach Tuchel brought Aubameyang to Chelsea in the 2022 summer transfer window, seven months after he signed for Barcelona from Arsenal.
Aubameyang discusses Chelsea ‘mess’ and ‘disrespectful’ Potter
The Gabonese striker only played once under Tuchel for the west London club as the German head coach was sacked following a 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League in September 2022.
Aubameyang left Arsenal earlier that year after falling out with Mikel Arteta. He joined Barcelona after his contract was terminated and says there is “no chance” he could have left the La Liga giants for Chelsea if his former Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel was not there.
Reflecting on his debut against Zagreb, Aubameyang says he struggled to recognise Tuchel and “felt he was not enjoying his time” at Stamford Bridge.
“I remember that day because I didn’t recognise him,” Aubameyang told David Ornstein for The Athletic. “It was not the guy I knew a few years ago.
“We had a close relationship. He was the only guy who really understood me in Dortmund. At Chelsea, it was like something was wrong. I felt he was not enjoying his time.
“We lost and he was p**sed off. Usually, he would go crazy but he came to the dressing room and then left. I was like, ‘This is not the guy I know. Very strange’. The next day, he was sacked.”
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Tuchel was replaced by Graham Potter, who omitted Aubameyang from his Champions League squad and made him available for transfer.
“That is when I started to say, ‘OK, this is very disrespectful’,” the 35-year-old – now playing for Saudi Arabian club Al Qadsiah – stated. “They tried to send me on loan to America. I said: ‘No chance’.
“I felt p***ed off. From that point, I said, ‘The season is done for me already’. I just went to training to maintain fitness; I knew I was not going to play.”
Potter was sacked months into the job and replaced by Frank Lampard on an interim basis.
“He (Lampard) told me, ‘OK, I need you. I want to know how you feel, if you are ready to play again’,” Aubameyang continued. “I was like, ‘Yes. I’m waiting for this’.
“Close to the end of the season, he spoke to me again and said, ‘What are your feelings? I’m sorry, Auba. I can’t really help you’. I understood it’s not coming from him but upstairs.”
Chelsea’s 2022/23 campaign was nothing short of a shambles as Aubameyang became part of a ‘bomb squad’.
“They did a mess,” he said. “It didn’t even look like a football dressing room, it was more like rugby. Hakim Ziyech, Denis Zakaria, Kalidou Koulibaly, Romelu Lukaku…
“It was good I wasn’t alone. We were laughing every day, so it was OK.”
Aubameyang has no bitterness towards the Blues and praised them for regaining stability and competitiveness under Enzo Maresca.
He does add that they need a “big striker…like Didier Drogba”.
“I never had that connection,” Aubameyang added. “No connections at all.
“The fans wanted the Auba they saw with Arsenal. At the time, I was not ready for that and didn’t get the opportunity. I was not ready, as well, because of what happened in Barcelona. It was a chaotic year but it was good for me because I needed a break and, at the same time, they didn’t want to play me.”
Aubameyang joined French giants Marseille from Chelsea in July 2023 and scored 30 goals and made 11 assists in 51 appearances in 23/24.
“I took a picture at a Chelsea game when I was not in the squad,” he says when asked about his Blues exit. “I said, ‘We’ll see next season if I’m a fan or player’. I arrived in Marseille with the mentality, ‘You’ll see the real Aubameyang.’”
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