Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Arsenal has been confirmed after he totalled 141 goals in just four and a half years with the Bundesliga side.
The 28-year-old Gabon striker had experienced a nomadic career of Ligue 1 loans from first professional club AC Milan until Jürgen Klopp took him to Dortmund in 2013 off the back of an impressive season with his next permanent employer Saint-Étienne.
A total stranger to English football, we guide the Gunners faithful through some unbelievable facts about the Gabonese.
- Father was his hero
Born in Laval, north-west France, in June 1989 while dad Pierre was playing for the local team, his father was always his hero. “I used to see my father play, which was unbelievable,” Aubameyang Jr said. “I used to take shots at goal in my bedroom and now I’m a professional. It’s hard to get my head round.”
2. Fashion Freak
Aubameyang is crazy about fashion and a bit of bling, notably once wearing crystal-encrusted boots. That taste for colourful things may be down to his mother. “My mother used to run a shop where she sold very colourful clothes,” he said. “I liked that from my early days.”
3. Crazy goal celebration
On the pitch, Aubameyang loves to do absurd things when he scores. He and Marco Reus once celebrated a derby strike against Schalke with Batman and Robin masks; previously he had dressed as Spiderman to mark a goal against Bayern. “It’s a cool thing to do,” said BVB’s Sebastian Kehl. “Fortunately, his goal was enough to win us the game, otherwise we would have given him some stick.”
4. Multilingual
He is multilingual – often in the course of the same sentence. “It’s not easy communicating with me,” he said. “Sometimes I speak Spanish, then change into Italian and later I may say something in German or French. It is always fun talking to me.”
5. Crespo was his idol
Aubameyang counts Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba as key influences. “They helped me a lot,” he said. “I talked to Eto’o about his great career and how I could become a better player. Drogba sent me a message after I was named African Player of the Year. That made me very happy.” However, his favourite player may well be former Argentina attacker Hernán Crespo: Aubameyang has ‘Crespo for life’ tattooed on his arm.
