When Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang travelled to Barcelona on transfer deadline day back in January - before his Arsenal exit had been agreed - the Gunners' sporting director Edu was left stunned.
Aubameyang was desperate to quit the Emirates after being frozen out by Mikel Arteta following a string of disciplinary issues. Those issues had also seen Aubameyang stripped of the Arsenal captaincy shortly before his first-team exile.
In a clip from the latest set of episodes from 'All or Nothing: Arsenal ' - which will be released on Thursday - Edu is left in shock after learning that the Arsenal outcast had been pictured in Barcelona instead of training.
Barcelona's interest in Aubameyang emerged in the final knockings of the mid-season window, and a deal was eventually done to take the 33-year-old to Spain. However, the lengths that Aubameyang went to in order to secure his exit from the Gunners has now been revealed.
After learning that Aubameyang has jetted to Spain, a visibly surprised Edu replies: "Really? Ok," before he asks to be shown proof. When he is asked where Aubameyang is supposed to be, the Brazilian confirms that the striker should have been training.
Edu promptly puts in a call to one of Aubameyang's representatives to grill them over their antics. Edu rages: "Say to us what you want to do, and then we will decide whether we are going to accept or not, because I know the player has just arrived in Barcelona."
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When Aubameyang's representative appears to claim that the striker's reason for travelling to Barcelona is to visit his father, who lives in Spain, Edu is undeterred. He responds: "Ah yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. This is how it works: we as a club are waiting for you guys to say to us what you guys want to do - or he has to travel back to London."
Although Barcelona are keen to acquire Aubameyang's services, the Spanish giants were pushing for a loan move; something that Edu made clear Arsenal had no appetite to consider.
When Aubameyang's representative raises the idea of emailing an improved offer, Edu bluntly responds: "Yeah. We are very much far from our expectations."
Edu and the Gunners hierarchy are then left to play the waiting game as Barcelona mull over a way to prise Aubameyang away from the Emirates. With the deadline looming, a resolution is offered by Arsenal when they float the idea of terminating Aubameyang's deal - a move that would see the Gunners save millions of pounds.
The idea was hinted at by Edu earlier in the episode, when he tells Arsenal's director of football operations Richard Garlick: "Let's try to finish it and be direct," alluding to a termination of Aubameyang's deal.
Speaking to Barcelona late on deadline day, Garlick says: "We think we can do a deal. Our preference would be to agree a termination of the player's contract today, Barcelona will offer Pierre-Emerick a deal for next season that will cover his salary. That's what our plan would be, to do it that way."
Even though Barcelona finally relented, Garlick and his team were left scrambling to finalise the termination of Aubameyang's deal before the 11pm transfer deadline - a feat they managed with just a minute to spare.
That finally paved the way for Aubameyang to join Barcelona on a free transfer - although recent reports have claimed that the Spanish giants are looking to offload the striker to Chelsea or Manchester United this summer just seven months after his arrival.
All or Nothing: Arsenal is available on Prime Video now
