Aubameyang makes a bright start to life at Barcelona
1906
On Sunday afternoon, Gabonese forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a hat-trick on his first La Liga start for Barcelona in a superb 4-1 win at Valencia.
The treble means that the striker has now scored hat-tricks in the Bundesliga, Premier League and La Liga, which is no mean feat.
The 32-year-old had previously made three appearances for the Catalan giants after his surprise deadline day free switch from Arsenal. Aubameyang had made 14 appearances for the Gunners this season, scoring four goals.
However, the veteran forward fell out with Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta prior to his move to Catalonia.
The falling out meant that the club from north London wanted to get the striker’s hefty pay packet off their wage bill, which is why Barcelona didn’t have to pay a transfer fee for his services.
It could prove to be one of the masterstrokes of the January transfer window. For the first time in his Barcelona career, Aubameyang showed his sharpshooting ability against Valencia.
This was illustrated by his first goal when he smashed a superb effort past the goalkeeper for his opening goal. His poacher’s instincts were on full display for his second before another superb strike for his hat-trick effort.
Barcelona have attempted to build a new team in the last few transfer windows, with several more experienced players added to the Catalan club’s squad. Sometimes there is no substitute for experience.
For the first half of the season, Barcelona seemed to lack an out-and-out forward that suited their style of play.
Aubameyang is an intelligent player, who can buy into Xavi’s football philosophy. He is certainly a better fit than Dutch international Luuk de Jong.
He may just play a vital part in Barcelona’s revival and in the process revive his career, which was becoming stale in north London.
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