Barcelona’s miserable summer continued on Tuesday when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signed a lucrative new £350,000-a-week deal to stay with Arsenal.
Sky Sports reported that the LaLiga giants failed in their bid to bring the Gabonese striker to Spain prior to Arsenal financing a deal to keep their star man.
New boss Ronald Koeman is targeting an attacking addition to his squad, with question marks over the long-term future of Luis Suarez.
The report details that Inter Milan also retained an interest in Aubameyang, a player who has established himself as one of the finest in his position in Europe.
Aubameyang spoke of becoming a legend for the north London club on Tuesday having ended months of speculation about his future by signing a new long-term deal.
The 31-year-old was out of contract in June 2021 and Arsenal were wary of losing him for nothing had they been unable to agree new terms for him to stay.
He scored 22 goals in the Premier League during the 2019-20 season and is already off the mark in this campaign having scored in the opening day 3-0 rout of Fulham.
Aubameyang is a key part of Mikel Arteta’s rebuild at the club and the striker has lifted both the FA Cup and the Community Shield in recent months.
‘Signing for this special club was never in doubt,’ the Gabon international said.
‘It’s thanks to our fans, my team-mates, my family and everybody at this club that I feel like I belong here.
‘I believe in Arsenal. We can achieve big things together. We have something exciting here and I believe the best is to come for Arsenal.’
Barcelona endured a horror campaign last season, losing the league title to bitter rivals Real Madrid, being humiliated in the Champions League in an 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich and, most recently, going to war with captain Lionel Messi over the validity of his £630m release clause as he looked to force a move to Manchester City.
Koeman has put a degree of focus on acquiring a new attacker comfortable in wide areas, which Aubameyang is, and the Dutchman will now have to look elsewhere having reportedly failed in his pursuit of the Arsenal man.
One other avenue is Lyon’s Memphis Depay, who Koeman knows from the Dutch national team, but when quizzed on that move, the Barcelona boss admits he is hamstrung by the budget at his disposal post-Covid-19 pandemic.
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