Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Borussia Dortmund are already without a manager this week and they are now set to also lose their star forward with the news that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is set to move to French giants Paris Saint-Germain for a fee believed to be in the region of £61m (70m Euro)
The Gabon international has often been linked with Real Madrid due to comments he made relating to a promise he made to his Grandfather that he would one day play for the club, so the offer from PSG will have come as something of a surprise albeit not a total shock.
PSG have had a season to forget by their own relative high standards as of late, not only was there that dramatic exit in the Champions League to Barcelona in the Round of 16 but they have also been knocked off their perch in terms of domestic supremacy.
After a run of four straight Ligue 1 titles that streak was ended by Monaco this season as Unai Emery’s first season in charge failed to live up to that of previous incumbent Laurent Blanc. Emery is no doubt feeling the heat although a French Cup win over Angers last weekend has perhaps done just enough to keep him in the job for next season.
This don’t forget is a team that was suffering a post Zlatan Ibrahimovic hangover this season and it is something they never really replaced. They do of course have the talents of Uruguayan Edinson Cavani among their ranks but he does have a habit of wasting chances when it really matters as Arsenal fans will attest to after the two head to heads in Europe this season.
So that is why PSG have looked to one of the most lethal marksman on the continent in a bid to restore them to the top of Ligue 1 and also to try and truly make an impact in European competition. Aubameyang has scored 85 Bundesliga goals for Dortmund in just 128 appearances.
That is an impressive tally but this seasons numbers are all the more outstanding, he claimed the German Golden Boot after scoring 31 times in 32 Bundesliga matches. With Dortmund only finishing third it was always going to be a difficult task in which to try and keep him at Signal Iduna Park for a fifth successive season.
A move to PSG will of course mean a return to Ligue 1 action for the 27 year old as it was Saint Etienne in which he really announced himself on the main stage when he scored 35 goals in 73 matches across the 2011/12 and 2012/13 campaigns.
That was a strike rate just short of a goal every other game for Les Verts and it was a display of form that earned Aubameyang his move to Germany. Since then he has gone from strength to strength and it ultimately means that Borussia Dortmund will have to make do with saying goodbye to another star player.
Usually the talent drain goes only as far as Bayern Munich but with Paris Saint-Germain making the bid that they have that will surely be one that is too good to turn down and Aubameyang will be soon to call Ligue 1 home once again.
