#TransferNews: Arsenal Completes the Signing of Aubameyang For Club Record Fee
Arsenal has started transfer deadline day with a bang.
For the second time in six months, Arsenal has broken its club transfer record, shelling out a reported $78.5 million to sign striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund. This deal gets the dominos moving today, with Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud expected to complete a nearly $25 million move across town to Chelsea while Michy Batshuayi moves to Dortmund on-loan through the end of the season.
The signing reunites Aubameyang with his former Dortmund teammate Henrik Mkhitaryan as well as Arsenal chief scout Sven Mislintat, who Arsenal hired from Dortmund in 2017.
On paper, this is a great signing from Arsenal, with one of the world’s best strikers joining the club. After becoming a house-hold name in Europe with AS Saint-Etienne, Aubameyang became a legend at Dortmund, scoring 141 goals in 4.5 years.
And he proved his worth not just in the Bundesliga, but in Europe, scoring 11 goals in the 2015-2016 edition of the UEFA Europa League and seven goals in nine games in last year’s Champions League campaign.
Even with rumors since the summer of an impending move away from Dortmund, Aubameyang still managed to score 13 league goals and four Champions League goals in just 22 games this season, a very impressive strike-rate.