Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang “Auba” is kind of a legend. He is in no way a club legend but he I think can be described a legend of life by finessing a move to Barcelona after basically not playing competitive football since December. He got into a disagreement with Arteta which has left him out of the Arsenal XI for over a month and has now turned that into a 3.5 year deal with Barcelona. What finesse by the Gabonese International. Now FC Barcelona are going through their own issues at the moment but to play under Xavi and play alongside Pedri, Ansu Fati, Busquets etc. is not a terrible proposition.
Now Auba’s time at the club never fully convinced me, I was always in the camp where he should play out wide with Laca through the middle and there was a technical side to his game that was missing that the world’s best strikers possessed. But at the end of the day, facts are facts, and you can’t take away his prolific goal-scoring record. 92 goals in 165 appearances for the club is as good as it gets with 2 20+ goal scoring seasons in the Premier League in there. He never fully got back to his best after his scare with Malaria last season but regardless, still one of the best strikers in our club’s history despite the lack of team success during his time in North London. Let’s go into his top 5 moments at the club
ONE. 2020 FA CUP RUN – The two games that made Auba a whole lot of money. 2 braces in the semi-final against City and did the double again over Chelsea. The game against City almost shouldn’t count cause he went up against Eric Garcia who to this point might be the most overrated center-back in European football, just atrocious. His first goal against City came from beautiful build-up from the back which found Pépé on the right side, who provided a sumptuous cross to Auba who finished it nicely at the back-post. His next goal in the second half came through a counter-attack from a pressing City side, with Pépé combining nicely to put Aubameyang through on goal for the second goal. Just a ruthless performance from Auba to put us through over a dominant City side. Our final with Chelsea was more balanced with throughout with Chelsea getting an early goal through Pulisic. Then a simple ball over the top from Tierney put Auba through on goal who was taken down by Azpilicueta resulting in a converted Auba penalty. Auba’s game winning goal is the best out of the bunch as we worked it to Auba isolated with Zouma on the left as he skillfuly dragged the ball to his left and dinking it over Caballero to give us the FA CUP title. Nothing more you can say, 2 goals in the semis and the final, not really an argument to not get his new contract.
TWO. HAT TRICK AGAINST VALENCIA (EL SEMIFINALS 2ND LEG) – This damn game had me believing we were going to win a European trophy. We won this second leg 4-2 with a goal coming from Laca and Auba taking us through with 3 goals of his own (7-3 on aggregate). The 3 goals alls came from various sorts of play, the first coming from a volley off a flick from Laca, the second was a predatory finish from a AMN cross, with the third goal from a simple give & go which came off allowed Auba to roof the ball to the back of the net. This stupid game made me believe the combination of Laca-Auba could actually work, that we can build our attack around these two. We then did what Arsenal does best and that is cough up Top 4 while simultaneously putting in a performance in the Europa League final that I have not recovered from. Nonetheless, even when there are parts of game where I think Auba lacks, Auba still had games where he carried us and this is one of them.
THREE: AUBA’S FREE KICK AGAINST VILLA: The Matteo Guendouzi game is what I will always remember about this game. The way he carried us through this game as a 20 year old in the center of the park was mesmerizing after we went down to 10-men in the 40th minute. We found ourselves down 2-1 before Calum Chambers reacted nicely to put us level 2-2. We then had a free kick just outside the box where we usually would have Pépé or Laca take if given the opportunity. Auba up to that point usually would provide the poaching and predatory type goals. His game winning free kick to put us up 3-2 was something that I didn’t know he had in his locker. This game symbolized the complete arsenal of Auba’s game and showed that we would go as far as Auba can take us… nonetheless this goal capped off a crazy game where we played the majority of the game down a man but somehow managed to come out with a win.
FOUR: PUTTING US LEVEL AGAINST SPURS (2018 Home fixture): We needed this goal so bad. Legit nothing worse than losing to Spurs at home as it is nothing better than to beat them away. We were playing them off the pitch to start the game, it was all Arsenal, the boys were playing off the frenzy Emirates crowd. After taking the lead through an Auba penalty, Spurs came ahead through two quick goals from the dickhead Eric Dier and a Kane penalty (from a Son dive). I remember being mentally messed up at half time thinking about how we were actually going to give this game away. With things not looking great, we brought on Laca and Ramsey at halftime and it changed everything. Down 2-1, a Bellerin pass to Ramsey who flicked it on to Auba who perfectly curled this inside the post to level us at home. We then went on to pummel them but that goal from Auba changed everything. A striker’s finish with only one touch of the football is what we needed and what he did many many times for us throughout his Arsenal career.
FIVE: WINNING THE GOLDEN BOOT: Auba winning the Golden Boot (tied with Salah and Mané) was something I forgot an Arsenal player could do. Having not seen it since RVP and Henry, it was surprising how he managed to score that many goals with our play that year being mostly inept down the stretch. Auba winning the Golden Boot that 2018-2019 season was I think the overarching message throughout his Arsenal career, him scoring many many goals but the team behind failing to match his standard. Arsenal not having massive team success throughout Auba’s time in North London was the inept team building that surrounded him. Auba didn’t have the ability like Thierry did to bring up the level of a team with his overall striker play but he did score the required goals to put him at the top of the league, just a confusing/frustrating situation all around.
CONCLUSION: One of the main debates around Arsenal is who are considered “legends” of the club. No, Auba is not a club legend in my opinion and it is not close for me. Auba did score a ridiculous amount of goals/apps, something only Henry managed to do for the club this century. However, the only way to get remembered that highly at this club is to win the Premier League or Champions League. Something Auba was not close to doing through no fault of his own, it is just the rules. It makes you think what we could have done if he was playing in front of Sanchez, Ozil and Ramsey in the Wenger years. The biggest what-ifs for this club in recent years. Just a confusing player in my opinion for me. There were so many times where I would watch him play and just had me question how he couldn’t do some of the things I wanted him to do as our striker but then he would then score two quick goals and shut me up. But whatever I think or anybody thinks he lacked, he scored goals at the end of the day and that is all that matters. Arteta and company need to find a replacement this summer and I already know that I will probably be complaining about Ollie Watkins next season but lettuce pray these clowns don’t mess this up.
Featured image credits: FC Barcelona