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LONDON. — Manchester United have expressed interest in signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this summer — and believe the striker could be prised away from Arsenal for £35million.
Aubemeyang has established himself as one of the most prolific goalscorers in Europe over the past decade, first thriving at Borussia Dortmund and now for Arsenal. After scoring an impressive 141 goals in 213 appearances for Dortmund, Aubemeyang joined Arsenal in 2017 and has already netted 61 goals for the English Premier League football club.
The Gabon international is set to break an Arsenal record by becoming the fastest player to reach 50 Premier League goals for the club, although he will have to wait to eclipse Thierry Henry due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Aubemeyang will have just one year remaining on his Arsenal contract come the summer and The Sun say Arsenal are resigned to the fact he will not sign a new deal. Head of football Raul Sanllehi and technical director Edu are desperate for Aubemeyang to put pen to paper but the 30-year-old is reluctant as he wants to be playing Champions League football next season. The Gunners were knocked out of the Europa League last month and are currently just ninth in the Premier League, eight points below fourth-placed Chelsea.
With Aubameyang reluctant to commit his long-term future to Arsenal, it is claimed Premier League rivals Manchester United are keeping tabs on the situation ahead of the summer transfer window. The Red Devils may opt to sign loan signing Odion Ighalo permanently in the summer but Aubemeyang could emerge as an ideal alternative. The Sun say Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain are also interested in signing Aubemeyang and believe he could be sold for around £35m.
Speaking this week, Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno insisted he was confident Aubemeyang would be staying put this summer despite the speculation over his future.
Asked on his eSports channel whether Arsenal will sign any players this summer, Leno replied: “I’m not sure, it depends who’s going to leave and who stays. I don’t know.
“I think it depends if Auba signs a new contract or (if) he leaves. I don’t know what they are going to do. But if he leaves, of course, you need another player. But I think he’s going to stay.”
Meanwhile, David Luiz has opened up on the pain he felt when leaving Chelsea to join Premier League rivals Arsenal.
The Brazilian defender ended his second stint at Stamford Bridge last summer when he completed a £8million move to Arsenal.
Luiz had won the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup at Chelsea and says staff at Stamford Bridge implored him to stay. But Luiz – now 32 — was determined to begin a new challenge in north London and says joining Arsenal was a “top decision”.
“I can be honest with you, the first three days or week was not easy to understand all the emotions or how I was feeling, because everybody knows my history with Chelsea,” Luiz told OTRO.
“I had this connection with everyone at the club. It was so massive and big and I was missing every single one.
“Every text message I was receiving, people were saying: ‘Come back, come back, come back, come back, we are here for you’.
“I give you the example of a gentleman there who is 75 years old. He was taking breakfast with me at the time when he had the opportunity.
“He was texting me: ‘‘I am still waiting for you here to take the breakfast again.’’— Metro.
Online Reporter