Former Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has admitted his move to Premier League rivals Chelsea was a “big mistake.”
Aubameyang scored 92 goals in 163 games for Arsenal but after being frozen out at Barcelona, joined Chelsea in 2022.
But the Gabon striker, now at Marseille, only struck once in 15 league games for the west London club before leaving the following year.
“That was a big mistake going there,” Aubameyang said on a YouTube stream of Arsenal content creator Troopz. “It was a f—ing big mistake.”
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang scored only one goal in 15 Premier League games for Chelsea. Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Explaining the move, the 36-year-old added: “At that time, I had a bad moment in Barcelona. I had a home break-in and Barça needed to sell a player — me or Memphis Depay — and the only thing that was on the table was Chelsea.
“So I said, ‘OK, for my family, I will move away, even if it’s Chelsea.’
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“I was thinking maybe it will be OK, Olivier Giroud went from Arsenal to Chelsea and he had no problems. But for me it was different.”
Aubameyang signed for Marseille in 2023 before briefly playing for Al Qadsiah in 2024. He rejoined Marseille for this season, and has struck four times in Ligue 1.
He scored 141 of his 360 career goals at Dortmund, who he left for Arsenal in 2017.
