Romano: Chelsea forward agrees personal terms with nine-time Ligue 1 winners

Chelsea could sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Olympique de Marseille

The Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang experiment has failed at Chelsea. He was signed on deadline day last summer from Barcelona for a fee of £10.3million.

Everything about the move screamed that it was a panic buy. And it showed as the season went on, with the Gabon international scoring just once in 15 Premier League games.

That is a terrible return from the former Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund superstar who was once regarded as one of the finest centre-forwards in the business. To be fair, no one could have seen such a bad season coming from Auba.

He had a pretty good 2022-23 season with Barcelona after joining them from Arsenal in January and finished the campaign with 13 goals in 24 games across competitions for the Catalan giants. But he has failed to impress at Stamford Bridge and is deemed expendable.

Aubameyang on his way out?

According to the Athletic (Subscription Required), Olympique de Marseille are in talks with Chelsea for the 34-year-old striker. A compromise will have to be agreed on the striker’s £160,000-a-week wages otherwise the nine-time Ligue 1 winners will struggle to afford him.

This could be a good move for Auba to resurrect his career and make the most of the years he has left as a player. Marseille are considered a giant in France and the one-time UEFA Champions League winner could use some firepower up front.

23-year-old Vitinha is their only recognised natural No. 9 right now. Arkadiusz Milik has joined Juventus while Alexis Sanchez was released after the end of his contract.

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Aubameyang has also agreed on personal terms with OM, as per Fabrizio Romano. He has intimate knowledge of French football, having played there in the past with Dijon, AS Saint-Etienne, LOSC Lille Metropole and AS Monaco. Let’s hope a decent fee comes Chelsea’s way as well.