OFFICIAL: Barcelona confirm the signing of Aubameyang

Barcelona and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have reached an agreement for the player to join the Club after the striker terminated his contract with Arsenal.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's Arsenal nightmare is over, with the striker joining Spanish giants Barcelona on a free transfer and signing an 18-month deal.

Barcelona have confirmed the deal on Wednesday with a video captioned 'It's Auba Time'. They announced the deal outside of the transfer window in Europe closing because Aubameyang was classed as a free agent after his deal at Arsenal was terminated.

Aubameyang was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy in December by manager Mikel Arteta, ordered to train alone and left out of their camp in Dubai and returning late from a club-approved trip to France.

The 32-year-old was pictured in Barcelona on Monday - to the surprise of both Arsenal and the Spanish side - but it left him well placed to undergo a medical and complete his move.

He had another year on his Arsenal contract, which was worth £350,000-a-week and has taken a cut on those terms to join Barcelona.

In Spain, Aubameyang will spearhead the drive from Xavi's side to qualify for next season's Champions League.

After a rocky start to the campaign, Barcelona are just a point outside the top four and play fourth-place Atletico Madrid on Sunday in a blockbuster showdown.

It is, at present, unclear if Aubameyang will be fit enough to make his debut this weekend. While he has been training alone during his Arsenal exile, he hasn't played competitively since an 85th minute substitute appearance in a 2-1 defeat by Everton on December 6.

At one stage on Monday, the deal was considered off and Arsenal were preparing for the prospect of having to patch things up and reintegrate Aubameyang.

The deal appeared to have collapsed as the two sides failed to reach a compromise over how to split Aubameyang's wages, with Barcelona struggling to produce an amount that satisfied Arsenal and also complied with their own financial restrictions.

However, talks were eventually revived and they closed in on common ground.

Aubameyang was at Arsenal for four years and despite leaving on a sour note, scored 92 goals in 163 games for the club.

Allowing Aubameyang to leave without signing a replacement represents a huge gamble for Arteta and Arsenal and leaves them down to just two strikers – Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah – who are both out of contract at the end of the season

Barcelona:

The play will sign a contract until 30 June 2025 with an option to agree departure on 30 June 2023 and his buy out clause will be set at 100 million euros. 

Shortly the Club will provide details of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's presentation as a first team player. 

European experience

Born in Laval (Mayenne, France) on 18 June 1989, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has triple nationality: Spanish, French and Gabonese, but plays internationally for Gabon. The 32-year-old has experience of playing in several European countries.

After being at several clubs as a youth, including AC Milan, Aubameyang made his senior debut in 2008/09 at Dijon in the French second division, on loan at the time from the Italian outfit. He caught the eye of a number of Ligue 1 teams, and would have spells at Lille (2009/10), AS Monaco (2010/11) and Saint Etienne (2011/13).

His next port of call was Borussia Dortmund in 2013, where he spent four and a half seasons, scoring 141 goals to earn his reputation as one of the sharpest shooters in the continent, topping the Bundesliga goalscoring charts in 2017 with 31 goals.

In the 2018 winter transfer window, he left for Arsenal, which where he has been for the last four years. He was top goalscorer in the Premiership in 2019 with 22 goals.

On an individual level, he was been named African Player of the Year in 2015 and Bundesliga Player of the Year in 2016.

His various team titles include the French League Cup with Saint Etienne (2013), the German Cup with Dortmund (2017) and the FA Cup with Arsenal (2020).

He has 72 full international caps for Gabon, scoring 30 goals.

Speed and goals

Aubameyang is a remarkably fast striker and has an eye for goal, having racked up over 300 as a professional. His powerful but accurate shooting have made him one of the most feared goal-getters in the European game.

He is versatile enough to play anywhere in attack, sometimes out wide and sometimes in the centre. His height (1.87m) coupled with his strength and acceleration mean he is especially dangerous when given space to move in. He is also a fine dribbler, reads the game to perfection and is extremely adept at producing combination moves out of nowhere.