Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has passed a medical and is due to be confirmed as a Barcelona player on a free transfer on Tuesday morning after several hours of negotiations during which it appeared a proposed move from Arsenal had broken down.
He is out of the picture on disciplinary grounds at Arsenal, where he had 18 months left on his £300,000-a-week contract, and the transfer suits all parties. The 32-year-old travelled to Barcelona to be there on deadline day in the hope of completing the deal – it is understood he also has family in the city.
Aubameyang was diagnosed with heart lesions after recovering from Covid-19 at the Africa Cup of Nations but said days later that he was “absolutely fine” and “completely healthy”. With the medical successfully completed and his Barcelona contract agreed, the Catalan club have chosen to announce his arrival on Tuesday rather than on deadline night.
Earlier, negotiations appeared to have foundered, with the clubs unable to reach an agreement on how to split Aubameyang’s wage and Barcelona’s financial difficulties making things extremely complicated.
Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, said with about four hours of the window remaining that the club’s director of football, Mateu Alemany, was optimistic of getting the deal done.
Aubameyang has been exiled at Arsenal by Mikel Arteta, who stripped him of the captaincy citing a lack of commitment. The Saudi club Al-Nassr offered Aubameyang an exit route but the player rejected that.
Aubameyang joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in 2018 and scored 92 goals in 163 games, the last of which was on 6 December at Everton. He was dropped then after returning late from a trip abroad – the latest in a series of disciplinary breaches, all related to problems with punctuality.
Arteta has only Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah as his centre-forward options after a trying January window. The club attempted to bring forward a deal for the striker they so patently need – Lacazette and Nketiah are also out of contract in the summer – moving for Dusan Vlahovic and Alexander Isak. But the former went from Fiorentina to Juventus for €75m euros while the latter stayed put at Real Sociedad.
Barcelona tried without success to find a taker for Ousmane Dembélé, who has declined to extend his contract beyond the summer. The Frenchman had no interest in joining Arsenal and although Laporta said there was a proposal from a Premier League team for the player to consider, the 24-year-old will continue at a club who made clear they wanted him out.
Arsenal have agreed a deal with Colorado Rapids for the defender Auston Trusty, the MLS club have said. The 23-year-old will be loaned back to the American side before joining the Premier League team in July.
