Chelsea, despite spending £219.6m this summer, failed to acquire one of their priority positions, at the top end of the pitch.
Whilst players such as João Félix, Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho were signed, there is still a lack of clinical finishing from the striker department.
The Blues’ number one target, Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen, after failing to agree on a move on deadline day with Chelsea, has now taken a loan move to Turkish side, Galatasaray.
Osimhen made 32 appearances for Napoli in all competitions last season, scoring 17 goals, providing four assists, and totalling 2,476 minutes played.
Remarkably though, one of Chelsea’s former flops did far more in front of goal.
Aubameyang’s time at Chelsea
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined Chelsea from Barcelona on transfer deadline day in the 2022 summer transfer window. The fee was in the region of £10m, plus Marcos Alonso going in the other direction to join Barcelona.
In his time at the club, he made 21 appearances, scoring three goals, providing one assist, and totalling 961 minutes played.
One of the main factors for Aubameyang’s unsuccessful stint with Chelsea was the fact he was bought in by Thomas Tuchel, who had worked with him previously at Dortmund and had a plan for the Gabon international to lead the line for his Chelsea side.
Fast-forward a few weeks, Tuchel was sacked which left the new manager, Graham Potter, with a striker who didn’t quite fit his system. He found himself out of the squad, with Kai Havertz playing more often as a number nine.
Had Tuchel stayed at the club, Aubameyang’s Chelsea career could be vastly different. However, this wasn’t the case, and a year later the forward made the move to Marseille.
Aubameyang’s time at Marseille
Now in Saudi Arabia (of course), the ex-Chelsea striker found his shooting boots in France, making 51 appearances for Marseille in all competitions in the 2023/24 campaign, scoring a whopping 30 goals, and providing 11 assists.
Despite finishing eighth in Ligue 1 last term, Aubameyang did fire Marseille to the Europa League semi-finals, scoring ten times along the way, including a hat-trick against Ajax in the group stage, a 4-3 victory.
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Aubameyang vs Osimhen goal tallies (all comps) |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Season |
Aubameyang |
Osimhen |
|
23/24 |
30 |
17 |
|
22/23 |
3 |
31 |
|
21/22 |
20 |
18 |
|
20/21 |
15 |
10 |
|
19/20 |
29 |
18 |
|
Stats taken from Transfermarkt |
||
Aubameyang refinding his goal-scoring form wasn’t on everyone’s prediction bingo card after his three-goal campaign the season prior. However, four of his past five seasons have now been 15+ goals, coming in a variety of leagues, such as the Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1.
Chelsea’s primary striker target, Osimhen, only hit nearly half the amount of goals as Aubameyang and has only outscored the Gabon forward once in the past five seasons, netting 31 times in his superb 2022/23 campaign, firing Napoli to the Scudetto.
Of course, a massive factor in this is the stages each of these players are in their careers, with Aubameyang already playing his prime years at the top level, and Osimhen only just entering his now, as he looks for a move to one of Europe’s elite.
