Arsenal might have captured one of the biggest winter transfers this season as they bought Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund but the Gabon international was linked with a move to Liverpool for a long time.
Jurgen Klopp, having worked with Aubameyang at Dortmund, was always expected to move for the striker but we just did not do enough in the transfer window to bring him to Anfield.
Mark Lawrenson, who works for the BBC, gave his opinion on the Aubameyang deal and stated that even though we had the money to bring the player to Anfield, Klopp did not want to deal with the off-field issues that have plagued the Gabon striker’s career.
“I am a big fan of his, but it’s never been suggested that Klopp was interested in him,” Lawrenson told the Daily Star.
“So that to me suggests that Klopp thinks he’s a really good player but off the pitch he’s hard work and Klopp doesn’t like that. Look at Sakho, in the pre-season tour of America a couple of years ago he was messing around a bit and was late for a couple of team meetings and things like that and Klopp just went, bang, no, you’re gone.
“So in Aubameyang I think Klopp looked and said ‘no, you’re a good player but not in my squad.’ He’s the manager and he makes those decisions. He’s one of those players that managers worry about 24 hours a day because they get up to all sorts, as we know, some of it good and some of it bad.”
Aubameyang scored on his debut in Arsenal’s 5-1 drubbing of Everton and joined the Gunners for £56million, which also made him the most expensive player in the club’s history. The move saw a domino effect as Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud also made switches to Dortmund and Chelsea respectively. However, Liverpool might have dodged a bullet here.
Aubameyang might be prolific in front of goal but his off-field issues would have been a huge problem for Klopp and company. We also have Roberto Firmino doing extremely well in front of goal and frankly, for now, we can do without another striker who can’t make it into the first-team.
We have more pressing issues when it comes to the goalkeeping department and the midfield and hopefully, Klopp looks to fix that in the summer and not worry about our attack.
