Auba lands at the Bridge

LONDON. — Chelsea have agreed a deal with Barcelona to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with Marcos Alonso going the other way.

Sky Sports News reported early on Deadline Day that Chelsea were closing in on an agreement with Barcelona for Aubameyang. Chelsea are understood to be paying in the region of £10m plus Alonso for the former Arsenal striker.

Aubameyang has been given permission to fly to the UK for his medical and to finalise the deal, with personal terms not expected to be a problem. Aubameyang suffered a minor fracture of his jaw in an attack on his home over the weekend.

The Gabon forward, who is expected to be out of action for three weeks, can resume non-contact training next week.

Aubameyang moved to Barcelona on a free transfer from Arsenal in January. He had three years left on his contract.

Although Thomas Tuchel has been reluctant to talk about Aubameyang in public he is keen to work again with a player who scored 79 goals for him in two seasons at Borussia Dortmund.

Tuchel has already spent £268m this summer on players, including Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly.

“Some players stay your players because you were very, very close – and Auba is one of those players,” Tuchel told journalists last month, effectively validating reports Chelsea were eyeing a move for his former striker.

While the Gabon international created headlines for the right and wrong reasons during his time at Arsenal, Aubameyang simply produced goals at Borussia Dortmund under Tuchel – with 56 Bundesliga goals in 63 appearances across two campaigns.— Sky Sports.