Aubameyang promised his grandfather before he died that one day he would play for Real Madrid. Now he’s transferring to Barcelona

The transfer of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona was completed on the last day of January. But what has been the player’s football career so far and what preceded the transfer?

Aubameyang was born in France and played there in various youth clubs (Nice, Laval, Rouen, Bastia). In 2007, he went to Italy, where he joined the youth of AC Milan. A year later he made his way into the A-team, but did not play a competitive match for AC Milan.

So he went on loan back to France, where he gradually changed clubs like Dijon, Lille, Monaco and Saint-Étienne. He eventually transferred to Saint-Étienne. At the time, it was for just €1.8 million. His tally was 41 goals in 97 games.

After just a year and a half, he was on his way to Dortmund in Germany for €13 million. He spent four and a half years there and scored an incredible 141 goals in 213 games.

Then came the move to Arsenal for a huge sum of more than €60 million. In England, he scored 92 goals in 163 games.

Today, he is a Barcelona player, who acquired him as a free agent. But in the meantime, his price has dropped to 15 million euros and it was no longer worth it for Arsenal to extend his contract and get some more money for him.

After his transfer to Barcelona, an interesting post appeared on Twitter. In 2016, Aubameyang had this to say to L’Equipe magazine. “My grandfather was from Ávila, not far from Madrid. Before he died 2 years ago, I promised him that one day I would play for Real Madrid. I know it won’t be easy, but I remember it.”

Source: wikipedia, transfermarkt, Martin Kubicik, Luděk Mádl, Squawka Football