HomeSportsChampions League: Chelsea drops Aubameyang

Champions League: Chelsea drops Aubameyang

While including their new signings; Fernandez, Mudryk, and Joao Felix, Chelsea dropped Pierre Emerick Aubameyang from their squad.

Manager Graham Potter in his reaction said Aubameyang has “done nothing wrong at all”.

Aubameyang started all six group matches, scoring two goals – but has not started a game since 6 November.

“Pierre’s a professional and I understand he will be disappointed. It was a tough decision,” said Potter.

“We had three coming in and two had to go out. He was the one that has missed out. It’s absolutely nothing bad against him. He has done nothing wrong at all.”

Chelsea’s match on Friday against Fulham ended in a draw without Aubameyang in the squad.

January signing David Datro Fofana coming on in the second half of the match.

“We wanted to give David some game time today to see where he is at,” said Potter. “Pierre’s just unfortunate and he will be fighting for his place for the rest of the season.

“He has handled it very well and trained today fantastically which is what I’d expect. He’s been a top, top guy for us.”

France defender Benoit Badiashile, a £35m January signing also misses out on the Champions League squad.

England Under-21s winger Noni Madueke, a recent £30.7m acquisition from PSV Eindhoven, and fellow new arrivals Andrey Santos and Fofana were also excluded.

However, Morocco winger Hakim Ziyech, whose proposed loan move to Paris St-Germain fell through does retain a place in Potter’s squad, with clubs only permitted to register a maximum of three new players for the remaining matches in this term’s competition.

Alfred Saiki
Alfred Saiki
A passionate sports journalist and administrator. I want to see the world.