The former Arsenal star wore €3,000 diamond boots, competed with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and trained at Newcastle Park.
“I want to become an Arsenal legend.”
This is what the former Arsenal striker said Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as he signed a contract extension in 2020 at the club where he was already a fan favorite.
His first seasons with the Gunners had been euphoric.
A Golden Boot in his first full season, the fastest player to reach 50 goals for the club in the Premier League era and an FA Cup trophy, which he lifted as club captain.
“I dream of being one of them,” he explained when signing the new three-year contract. “To be among the best and stay in the hearts of the fans forever.”
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Three years later Aubameyang would have already fainted Arsenal folklore, with his contract never completed.
His journey to Arsenal had been tumultuous, to say the least.
The Gabon captain had been inspired by his father, who had also played at international level and made more than 400 appearances for French clubs such as Le Havre and Nice.
When his father became a young explorer of AC MilanIt was no surprise that the young Aubameyang made the decision to join the Italian team's youth system himself in 2007.
But he would never make a senior appearance for the Serie A team; Instead, three loan spells took him to Dijon, Lille and Monaco, where he honed his craft.
However, it wasn't until he left AC Milan permanently that the goals finally started to flow for him.
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This time he had been on loan to the Ligue 1 team. Saint-Etienne and soon they made their loan permanent.
Until 2013 he remained at the club and racked up an impressive 41 goals in his 97 appearances.
He also helped the team win the French League Cup in 2013 – a diamond in the rough, you could have called it.
And for this diamond in the rough, it seemed that only diamond boots would suffice; He surprised the football world in 2012 when he was seen warming up for a match against Lyon adorned in a pair of quite eye-catching football boots valued at 3,000 euros.
It must have been a strange contrast for Aubameyang to remember that he had been playing a friendly with Gabon in a Newcastle park just six months earlier, a far cry from the glamor of Monaco and the diamond boots.
In the end, his success in France paid off, as he was duly hired by Borussia Dortmund in an operation valued at 13 million euros (they had not been the only suitors either).
He spent almost five seasons in the Bundesliga, first under the coach. Jurgen Klopp and then his successor Thomas Tuchel.
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It was the latter who was really able to bring out the best in Aubameyang, and the pair won three trophies together during their time at the club.
He scored 39 goals in 49 appearances in Tuchel's first season and was awarded the African and Bundesliga Player of the Year awards.
“It was Thomas Tuchel's first season as coach and I was always centralized,” he said when collecting the awards. “The whole team had a great year, one that I really enjoyed.
“Our style has changed a little bit, from trying to score in five seconds to a calmer and, in a sense, more polite style of play. We try to find the right moment and then explode.”
When it looked like things couldn't get better, he increased his return the following season, scoring 40 in 46 games.
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That's when Arsenal came calling, and Aubameyang agreed, moving for a club-record £56 million in January 2018.
Most of his four seasons at the club were like a dream as he soon became a goalscoring and trophy-winning captain.
His 92 goals in 163 appearances certainly gave him the potential to become a club legend.
But in the end, Aubameyang's love affair with Arsenal came to a bitter end.
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Two disciplinary issues in which Aubameyang had reportedly been late for duty ultimately stripped him of his captaincy.
“Following his latest disciplinary offense last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be our club captain and will not be considered for selection for Wednesday's match against West Ham United,” read a club statement.
“We expect all of our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards that we have all established and agreed upon.
“We are totally focused on tomorrow's game.”
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Barcelona It was his next destination, although it wouldn't last long.
“My last months at Arsenal were complicated, that's football sometimes,” he said when he was announced as a Barça player. “For my part, I never wanted to do anything wrong.
“My problem was only with Arteta. I can't say much more, I was not happy. It was just him and he made that decision. I wasn't happy, I can't tell you more. I wasn't very happy; “It was very calm.”
Arsenal fans wondered if they might have made a mistake when Aubameyang broke a remarkable record in his first games in Spain, scoring five goals in his first six La Liga games.
Only seven other players had done so with Barcelona, and one of them was none other than Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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The others were Sandor Kocsis, Johan Cruyff, Hans Krankl, Ronald Koeman, Romario and Ronaldo, so Aubameyang was clearly in good company.
His stay in Spain lasted only a few months and then he returned to the Premier League. But not to Arsenal, but to their London rivals. Chelsea in a move that must have upset Gunners fans.
Still, Aubameyang did not find a permanent home with the Blues and Graham Potter Leaving him out of their Champions League squad in February 2023 seemed like the beginning of the end.
Since July 2024, he has found a new home at Saudi Pro League club Al Qadsiah, having spent a year playing for Marseille before that.
Despite everything, the Gabonese striker, forged through work and dedication, was truly exceptional when he was at his best.
He's not an Arsenal legend after all, but while diamonds may be forever, football stardom rarely is.
