Graham Potter insists Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was “unfortunate” after dropping the striker from Chelsea’s Champions League squad.
The Gabonese forward was left out as Joao Felix, Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk were added to the squad ahead of the last 16 tie against Borussia Dortmund.
Aubameyang trained on Friday but was then given the night off and spent the evening in Milan, with Potter explaining the difficulty in his decision.
“He’s a professional. I understand he’ll be disappointed, but we had three coming in, he’s done nothing wrong at all. We wanted to give David some gametime tonight,” Potter said after the goalless draw against Fulham.
“Pierre is unfortunate, but he’ll be fighting for his place. Whichever decision we made, we’d have a conversation, but it was my decision, it was a tough decision, it’s nothing bad against him, he’s done nothing wrong at all.
“It is difficult, it’s tough, I am empathic, I understand his disappointment, I have a responsibility to make these decisions and articulate as best I can. Respect the fact that he’s disappointed, he’s trained fantastically. He’s been a top guy for us.
“Everything is up for grabs, he’s got to keep working, train like he did today and be ready to play. Football changes quickly.”
