All eyes will be on whether Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will return to Borussia Dortmund’s starting line-up at Hertha Berlin today, with the star striker reportedly chasing a move to Arsenal. But Dortmund yesterday said they have had no contact with Arsenal amidst reports that Aubameyang’s father and agent Pierre has been in London this week to negotiate a transfer for the Gabon hot-shot. According to German magazine Kicker, Dortmund want 70mn euros ($85.6mn) for last season’s top-scorer in the German league.
Aubameyang has already scored 21 goals in 23 games this season, but was disciplined by the club last Sunday for the third time in 16 months after failing to attend a team meeting. Yesterday, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised Aubameyang’s ‘strong character’, which did not go down well with Dortmund’s sports director Michael Zorc.
“We find it respectless to talk about a player from another club,” said Zorc, who added that Aubameyang has this week ‘trained well and is focused’ on regaining his Dortmund place. “There has been no contact with Arsenal and we assume Arsene Wenger has enough to do worrying about the performances of his own players.”
Aubameyang had a contract at Dortmund until 2021. It remains to be seen whether he is named in the starting side for today’s Bundesliga clash at Hertha Berlin. Swedish teenager Alexander Isak, 18, made only his third German league appearance when he took Aubameyang’s place for last Sunday’s goalless draw at home to Wolfsburg, but the team struggled to finish their chances.
“He is definitely an option,” head coach Peter Stoeger said of Aubameyang. “He could play, but it is obvious that he has to put his foot down in training and show up well. He can decide for himself, with his attitude, whether he will be considered and I plan on using him, if he works hard.”
It was the third time he has been disciplined by Dortmund in the last 16 months, following an unauthorised video shoot on club premises last November and his jetting to Milan before a Champions League game a year before. Fourth-placed Dortmund are unbeaten in their three league games since Stoeger took over from Peter Bosz last month, while Hertha are down to 11th after crashing to a 1-0 defeat at Stuttgart last weekend.
Fixtures (all times 1430 GMT unless stated)
Today: Hertha Berlin v Borussia Dortmund (1930)
Tomorrow: Hoffenheim v Bayer Leverkusen, Freiburg v RB Leipzig, Borussia Moenchengladbach v Augsburg, Mainz v VfB Stuttgart, Wolfsburg v Eintracht Frankfurt, Hamburg v Cologne (1730)
On Sunday: Bayern Munich v Werder Bremen, Schalke v Hanover 96 (1700)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
