A January move from Barcelona could confirm Chelsea’s transfer failure as its supposed ‘guarantee’ pales in comparison to Liverpool’s alleged $103m gamble.
Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Kostas Tsimikas, Trent Alexander-Arnold. What do these four Liverpool players have in common? They have all recorded more touches in the opposition box this season than Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Aubameyang may have only cost Chelsea $12m (£10m/€11m) when he moved from Barcelona in the summer, but he has still looked like one of the biggest failures of the window.
And now, after the Blues sealed a loan deal for Atlético Madrid’s João Félix, Aubameyang’s stint at Stamford Bridge could be over. According to Fabrizio Romano, Barcelona ‘would love’ to bring him back to the Camp Nou and is hopeful that Chelsea will let him go on a free transfer.
Aubameyang reunited with Thomas Tuchel, his old manager at Borussia Dortmund, when he joined the club, only for the German to be sacked almost immediately. There should, then, be some sympathy for the forward, who no doubt had a very different vision in mind.
Tuchel’s replacement, Graham Potter, has used him sparingly in the Premier League — four times from the start and five times from the bench — but picked him for all six of Chelsea’s Champions League group games.
Across his 16 outings in all competitions, amounting to 813 minutes, he’s only managed to score three goals, and the underlying numbers paint an even bleaker picture.
Aubameyang is attempting just 1.59 shots per 90 minutes in the top-flight, and his record of 0.11 expected goals/90 is barely enough to rank inside the top 100. Since he scored in three consecutive games at the start of October, he’s looked like a misfit.
Meanwhile, his counterpart at Liverpool, Darwin Núñez, has just hit double figures for goals. He’s done so in 23 appearances, or 1,389 minutes, and so he’s scoring at a commendable rate.
More encouragingly still, he’s averaging 0.76 xG/90, the second-highest in the Premier League behind Erling Haaland and the sixth-highest in the top five leagues. He also leads the way outright when it comes to shots per game (5.68). Yes, there have been too many missed chances but, from a supply point of view, it’s already clicked.
Aubameyang was presented by Chelsea in the summer as a guarantee of goals, a safe, short-term signing. After all, this was a player who had previously won the Premier League Golden Boot.
But we wrote at the time that there were signs of decline. His numbers had tailed off in his acrimonious final 18 months at Arsenal, and the pace that has been a big part of his game isn’t what it once was
.This, combined with Chelsea’s failure to properly integrate him into their attacking set-up, has made the deal something of a disaster.
Núñez was supposed to be the riskier signing, with Liverpool agreeing a club-record $103m (£85m/€96m) deal for a player who had only one season of elite top-flight goalscoring in Europe behind him.
And while he has unquestionably looked raw, his goal return is good, and his all-round contribution exceeds that of Aubameyang too. His driving runs down the flank often lead to big opportunities, and he’s a tireless defensive worker.
Crucially, Liverpool has also adapted well to the return of an out-and-out striker. Its plan is clear, while Chelsea’s jumbled thinking has been exposed.
Right now, Núñez and Aubameyang are headed in vastly different directions. One is showing signs of becoming an explosive goalscorer, while the other might soon be packing his bags.
SOURCE: liverpool.com
