Graham Potter believes people have formed the wrong impression of Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang following his acrimonious exit from Arsenal – with Chelsea's head coach describing the forward as a "really quiet, really humble, nice person who wants to support the team."
Aubameyang spent four years with Arsenal but left in February after a complete breakdown in his relationship with Mikel Arteta. During his final weeks at the Emirates Stadium, the 33-year-old was stripped of the club captaincy and forced to train away from his teammates due to what Arteta cited as a disciplinary breach ahead of a match against Southampton.
It was later revealed in All or Nothing: Arsenal – the fly-on-the-wall documentary released by Amazon – that Arteta had kept a dossier of Aubameyang's perceived misdemeanors. It came as no surprise that he and the club parted ways in January by mutual consent and the former Gabon international joined Barcelona.
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Aubameyang's spell in Spain was brief and on the final day of the summer transfer window, he returned to English football and signed with Chelsea. The chance to work with Thomas Tuchel – who coached Aubemeyang at Borussia Dortmund – was a motivating factor but the German departed just five days after the forward's arrival.
However, Aubameyang has embraced working with Graham Potter and his staff and has scored three goals in ten appearances following the arrival of the former Brighton head coach.
"I think you should treat people how you find them and not pre-judge. That is my perspective. I think everybody deserves that," said Potter when asked about how he's found working with Aubameyang, who is known for having a monochrome collection of supercars.
"Everybody is different. Just because you drive a fast car doesn’t necessarily tell you too much about your personality or character. You might just like cars. That is not something that has ever bothered me to be honest. I can only speak as I find him and he’s been really good. Whatever the preconceived idea of him was, it wasn’t that."
Potter continued: "He’s a quiet guy, so maybe the outside thinks he’s this loud, flashy person but he’s not. We have found him really quiet, really humble, nice person who wants to support the team. He has been really respectful all the time.
"His taste in cars is a bit different to mine and his taste in clothing is a little different to mine, but I’d like to think we’ve got some similarities as well. He’s got kids, he’s a family man. He wants to enjoy his football, he wants to be happy, he wants to be supported, he wants to be part of the team. I found him really nice to work with."
And what about Aubameyang's time-keeping, a supposedly persistent issue during his time at both Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal? "You can’t be late driving those cars, can you?" replied Potter with a smile.
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