He arrived with a letter of freedom: FC Barcelona made the signing of Aubameyang official

It was a fact, but they needed to make it official. FC Barcelona announced this Wednesday the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabonese striker arrives from Arsenal with a release letter and signs for the Barça club until June 2025, with an agreed exit option on June 30, 2023. In addition, the contract was made with a termination clause of 100 million euros.

After leaving Arsenal yesterday, Aubameyang arrives at Barcelona for free and will sign a contract for three and a half seasons, although in June 2023, the date on which his relationship with the English club ended, he can agree to leave with the Barça club.

His incorporation was made official beyond the deadline for the registration of players for the winter market, which closed last Monday, since he signs with the Barça club as a free agent. Otherwise he could not be registered in LaLiga, which on its website has already given the green light to the operation of the African player.

The Gabonese striker, who has a family in the Barcelona town of Sitges, landed last Monday morning in Barcelona, ​​where at night, before sealing the agreement with his new club at the Ciudad Deportiva Joan Gamper, he went to a medical center to pass the medical examination.

In the first weeks of the winter window, Barça set their sights on Juventus striker Álvaro Morata, an operation that ultimately did not materialize due to the demands of Atlético de Madrid, the Madrid-owning club, which only accepted a sale for the player and not a transfer.

Given the impossibility of signing Morata, in the last days of the market the name of Aubameyang emerged strongly, who has participated in fifteen games with Arsenal this season and has scored seven goals.

This course, Aubameyang, who has only scored four goals in the Premier League, was removed from the team in early December for an act of indiscipline. He returned late from a personal trip and broke the protocols against COVID-19. Arteta’s punishment went further and the African has not entered an Arsenal list since December 6.

Nor was his participation in the Africa Cup without controversy, since the striker tested positive upon arrival in Cameroon after having been in Dubai the day before the party. This caused the Gabonese federation to return him to London before the tournament was over.

Since then, Aubameyang has trained alone in the ‘Gunners’ sports city, while his teammates went to Dubai to train, waiting to figure out his future.

Aubameyang signed for Arsenal in January 2018. The English club paid Borussia Dortmund around 60 million, where in four and a half seasons he showed his best football with 141 goals in 214 games.

At Arsenal, off-sports problems aside, he has scored 92 goals in 162 games. It was in his first three seasons as ‘Gunner’ that he showed his best level, which allowed him to extend his contract with the London team in September 2020 until June 2023.

However, his performance has plummeted since then and in the 2020/2021 campaign he barely scored 15 goals, his worst record since arriving from Borussia Dortmund. He now arrives at a Barça in need of a goal with the aim of relaunching his career and helping the Barça team to qualify for the next edition of the Champions League.