LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 01: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrates after scoring his sides second goal with Alexandre Lacazette of Arsenal and his team mates during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Stoke City at Emirates Stadium on April 1, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Arsenal: “Rotten apple” Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang clearly no fairy tale
There was a lot of chatter when Arsenal landed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a much of a it a warning to the North London club. Have all been proven wrong?
When you sign a world class striker, arguably the best scorer in Europe, with little to no competition, there are naturally going to be some raised eyebrows. That’s what Arsenal accomplished when they landed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The fact that they did it at a cut price was even moreso odd.
The voices coming from Borussia Dortmund were quite clear. They were far from praising of the Gabonese striker who had severed several team-imposed suspensions for being late, skipping training, or an assortment of other things.
Naturally, it raised flags in North London as well. How could someone as good-natured as Aubameyang had proven to be have so many character flaws all of a sudden? Perhaps success had gone to his head.
The worst criticism of the bunch came from Matthias Sammer, who called Aubameyang a rotten apple and stated that he would not simply change his ways for his new club. That was all a “fairy tale” according to the former German midfielder.
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It’s still early in Aubameyang’s tenure at Arsenal, so it’s important not to get too crazy, but using what happened against Stoke City as a basis, I don’t what more we would need to disprove this “rotten apple” theory and assert quite confidently that this isn’t a fairy tale.
There were so many players that have spoken up about how wonderful of a team mate Aubameyang was and when all is said and done, Alexandre Lacazette will be another. When Aubameyang passed up his own chance at a hat trick to let Lacazette find his first goal in months – a massive relief for all – it was a show in utter selflessness.
The kind of selflessness that you wouldn’t expect to see given what the folk at Dortmund were saying about him.
Which makes me wonder if the other side of the spectrum, the side with less voices, wasn’t more in the right, and Dortmund more in the wrong. Aubameyang’s character had been lauded by the likes of Reus and Gundogan and more. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there is this rift developing, and that rift is gone as soon as he reaches Arsenal.
And it’s replaced by the same Aubameyang that was all smiles and all team-first back in Germany.
Again, it’s early. But I’m pretty keen on saying that everyone else was wrong about Aubameyang, and the only people that matter were right.
