Pierre-Emerick Aubaymeyang on Wednesday became Arsenal’s record signing and his farewell post to Borussia Dortmund, on Instagram, made for an interesting read due to the tongue-in-cheek humour employed by the Gabonese international.
A post shared by Aubameyang (@aubameyang97) on
The post, when translated, reads:
“First of all sorry for everything that happened last month. But I wanted to change last summer, but it didn’t work, but now it had to be.
Maybe it wasn’t the best way I decided, but everyone knows that Auba is crazy— and yes, I’m a crazy boy, hahahaha!
I made mistakes, but never in bad intentions.
I will never forget these four and a half years at Borussia Dortmund because you all gave me the strength for the level that I am now on.
I thank the whole BVB family, the fans, the club, the staff and of course my team-mates! Your Auba 17!!!”
The fact that he apologised for his repeated indiscretions will go someway towards appeasing the Die Borussen faithful, but it remains to be seen whether the majority of their passionate fanbase will forgive him as a succession of coaches lost their patience with the 28-year-old.
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From being late to training, to skipping team meetings to eventually not training at the required level expected of him, Aubameyang did everything he could to prove the Bundesliga giants would be better off without him and finally got his way as Arsenal swooped in on deadline day.
The Gabonese striker, who is reported to be faster than sprint legend Usain Bolt over 30 metres, arrived in Germany from Saint-Etienne as a replacement for Robert Lewandowski in 2013.
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To say he had big shoes to fill was an understatement but the African did the job asked of him admirably, scoring close to 150 goals over the course of four-and-a-half seasons at the Westfalenstadion.
However, towards the latter stages of his tenure with Die Borussen, Aubameyang had become concerned at what he perceived a lack of ambition from the club as high-profile players such as Ousmane Dembele departed for greener pastures.
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Arsenal, looking to replace Alexis Sanchez, were keen on acquiring the 6’2 striker to bolster their attacking options and negotiations were underway for the past week, with all parties reaching an agreement hours before the deadline on Wednesday.