I dreamed of signing for Newcastle, but Jürgen Klopp changed my mind and I ended up signing for Arsenal and Chelsea. Now I'm going to Saudi Arabia.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leaves Europe after a rollercoaster decade at clubs across the continent.
The 35-year-old Gabonese striker will join Saudi Pro League club Al-Qadisah this summer.
Marseille are happy to allow his departure and he will sign a two-year contract with the club based in Khobar, in the east of the country and about 80 miles from Riyadh.
This is the second time he has left France, more than ten years after his first departure.
In 2013, Aubameyang, then 24, was doing everything he could to leave Ligue 1 and there was no shortage of suitors for the star goalscorer.
Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Paris St Germain, Anzhi Makhachkala and, above all, Newcastle were interested.
After a life as a second-string player for much of his early career that began at AC Milan, Aubameyang finally had a breakout season at Saint-Etienne during the 2012/13 campaign.
His 19 league goals left him second in the scoring charts, behind only PSG superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Joe Kinnear had just been appointed director of football at Newcastle and Aubameyang became one of his top targets.
The Magpies made a £15m bid, hoping to sign a certain Kurt Zouma from St Etienne in a combined £26m move.
This proposal was rejected, leading Aubameyang to make a public statement about his desire to move to the Premier League.
He said: “I would choose England over any other destination.
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“My dream has always been to play in one of the two best leagues in the world.
“Newcastle is a good club and St James's Park is a monumental stadium with passionate fans.”
However, there was another club that ended up attracting Aubameyang more than Newcastle.
He ended up signing for Borussia Dortmund, who had reached the Champions League final the previous season under Jürgen Klopp.
Explaining his decision In 2016, Aubameyang said: “I received an offer from Qatar of €10m a year (£7.83m). If I accepted it, my family would be set for life.
“We decided to stay in Saint-Etienne, where I was earning €70,000 a month (£55,000), knowing that, given my qualities, I could earn money tomorrow.
“The following season, Saint-Etienne wanted to send me to Newcastle.
“We opted for Dortmund, Champions League finalists, because my father studied Klopp's game, even though the salary was lower.”
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Aubameyang became one of the best strikers in Europe while Newcastle embarked on a three-year decline that would ultimately see them relegated from the Premier League in 2016.
Unlike the Magpies, Aubameyang was playing in the top flight of English football in 2018.
Arsenal broke their transfer record to sign the Dortmund striker in a £56m deal.
For three and a half years, Aubameyang was worth his weight in gold.
He scored 64 goals in 114 league games before the 2021/22 season, when everything went wrong.
Aubameyang's behaviour as captain and role model for the club's younger players began to irritate manager Mikel Arteta, and a Very public repercussions caused the sudden exit of the forward.
Barcelona signed him in January 2022 and Aubameyang made a solid start, scoring 11 goals in 17 LaLiga games.
Chelsea then decided to take a chance on the 34-year-old in the summer of 2023.
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It proved to be a terrible decision, with Aubameyang only returning one Premier League goal and barely featuring in a forgettable campaign for club and player.
He finally made it back to Ligue 1 this summer after Chelsea agreed a deal with Marseille, and has scored 17 goals upon his return.
Aubameyang showed that he may still have a little more to give before hanging up his boots.
But had Newcastle managed to sign Aubameyang in his prime, their final decade could have turned out very differently.
Follow all the news about this summer's signings in the talkSPORT Transfer Blog
