Arsenal star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 'withheld performances' before transfer, hints Dortmund CEO

James Benge5 February 2018

Borussia Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke has hinted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang withheld performances in a bid to force his way out of the club.

Aubameyang completed a £56million move to Arsenal last Wednesday after what Dortmund labelled an “unpleasant” saga over recent months.

On three occasions since the start of 2017 Aubameyang had been dropped from the squad for disciplinary reasons and drew condemnation from he is own fans when he played his final game for the club, a 2-2 draw at Freiburg.

Aubameyang apologised for his “crazy” behaviour but the way in which he exerted pressure on Dortmund to sell him to Arsenal left a sour taste in the German club’s hierarchy, particularly as it came only five months after Ousmane Dembele forced through a move to Barcelona.

CEO Watzke insists he will not tolerate a repeat of Aubameyang’s actions.

“On Thursday, I laid it on the line for the squad — the next player who does something like that will fail miserably,” Watzke told Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung.

“He’ll run into major problems. The next player who tries to put us under pressure by withholding performances or even going on strike will not get a pass and will instead sit in the stands.

“They are all aware of it. This is now a public statement. Following Dembele and Aubameyang, there is now an overriding interest for the club — we need to get a better structure into our squad again.

“Aubameyang committed himself to us for this season, especially as a reaction to Dembele’s transfer.

“But he also had the notion that we owed to him because in 2016 he opted for us and decided against very lucrative offers amid the departures of [Mats] Hummels, [Ilkay] Gundogan and [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan."

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's first Arsenal training session

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Aubameyang had also been frustrated when a transfer in the summer of 2017, believed to be to the Chinese Super League, collapsed.

In their first game without the Gabon striker Dortmund claimed a crucial 3-2 win, Chelsea loanee Michy Batshuayi scoring two and providing an assist on his debut.

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