Official: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang transfers to Arsenal

It seems like there has been constant transfer speculation surrounding Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang during his time at Dortmund. He spoke often of his dream to move to Real Madrid, but they never came calling. He almost got a lucrative move to China, but he turned that down for various reasons.

Now, after a period of particularly poor conduct, he has finally been sold for a predictably large sum.

Arsenal announced today that they have officially signed Aubameyang from Dortmund. The fee is rumored to be worth around £60 million.

This is the second highest transfer fee that BVB have ever collected for a player. Last summer, the club took in €105 million for Ousmane Dembele to move to Barcelona. This deal comes in at about €63 million, but still represents a considerable amount that Dortmund can now re-invest into their squad.

Whether Aubameyang will fit at Arsenal is still a matter of contention. They spent quite a lot to sign Alexandre Lacazette in July, but just six months later have now spent even more on another big name striker. Still, the Gunners have certainly replaced the star power that they lost when Alexis Sanchez moved to Manchester United.

Auba gets the high profile move he always wanted, and the significant pay raise that comes along with it. He’ll also have the chance to re-unite with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and to work under one of the greatest French managers of all time. One does wonder if he still has delusions of a move to Madrid some day.

The replacement for Aubameyang at Dortmund will be Michy Batshuayi, at least for the rest of this season. The Belgian striker has joined on loan from Chelsea, and could be a long term option if he succeeds and BVB opt to make his loan permanent. Batshuayi has tremendous potential.

Dortmund probably won’t be winning any trophies this season, but there is still a lot to play for. If Batshuayi can come in and do a decent job of replacing the goals that Auba provided, then Dortmund will receive a significant boost in the race for the Bundesliga’s top four.