In the final hours of the window, after much drama that unfolded behind the scenes when Aubameyang landed in Barcelona without an agreement reached between Arsenal and Barcelona, which his entourage claimed a visit to his father's property in Barcelona, turned out to be one of those reckless turns of events at FC Barcelona.
After hours of negotiation, Barcelona signed out of favour Arsenal captain for a three and half year deal, with the Gabonese lowering his wages until summer to allow Barcelona to register him.
However, Where does Aubameyang fit in Barcelona, especially after Xavi Made it clear that he wants players who embody Barca DNA. Does Aubameyang have what it takes to succeed in the Barcelona system?
Since Barcelona grew intolerant of Luuk De Jong and Martin Braithwaite, also with Ansu Fati sidelined again, and Memphis Depay's fitness raising concern, Barcelona needed a goal scorer who could at least be at the end of the dangerous passes into the box by their ever-lively midfield.
Apparently, Aubameyang's finishing quality has diminished over the years. One might attribute his poor form to his playing unusual centre forward role or Arteta's change of tactics in the form of possession-based football.
Stats however don't lie. In the 2019-20 season, he scored 0.57 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes from an xG of 0.41. The numbers almost dropped by half as Aubameyang scored only 0.31 non-penalty goals in the next season after his contract renewal with Arsenal.
His poor form continued with the Gunners this season as well. One might say, he will find his confidence back and score loads of goals. A friendly reminder is that he's 32 years old forward who is more likely to decline than fire.
Again, Aubameyang is expected to take the centre forward role at Barcelona where he mostly played the last two seasons. Hence it won't be a surprise if he becomes a liability for his team.
As Barcelona couldn’t find any other alternative short-term solution, it will be interesting to see how Barcelona's Aubameyang gamble progresses.
Another player Barcelona acquired is Wolves' Adama Traore, who apparently has 20 goal involvements in his almost 4 seasons, with his most prolific season coming in the championship, speaks volumes about his ability to finish or create.
As much as his unique qualities suggest, it's quite unlikely that a turnaround is imminent. But Barca acquired him only on loan for six months for a significantly lower wage.
That's an advantage for Barcelona since they can renegotiate the fee in the summer if he shines as he has only one year left in his contract or can send him back to Molineux.
Of course, if it's true, it will be a naive surrender from Wolves to the player's aspirations, but if the relationship gets bitter, Wolves are quite poised to send Trincao back to Barcelona who has not managed to register either an assist or a goal for Wolves this season.
The significant wage bill has been offloaded by Coutinho's move to Aston Villa where he has already started to excel and Barca can be hopeful that his deal will be made permanent by Villa.
But Barca failed to move on Ousmane Dembele. Dembele has a huge opportunity to make it count in the absence of injured Fati and Depay which Xavi reportedly considers an option.
There are concerns over the lack of options in the left-back position. Too much faith in Jordi Alba could backfire as well.
Of course, It was a necessity to strengthen the backline but the club's current financial conditions probably didn’t allow the board to sign new players. Nonetheless, the Barca Board took a huge gamble there.
tofaelmahmuddu98@gmail.com