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Dortmund anger over Arsene Wenger's 'disrespectful' £60m pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Arsenal’s £60 million pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has descended into acrimony and anger after Borussia Dortmund dropped their star player and accused Arsene Wenger of disrespecting their club.
Wenger had begun the day by largely dodging questions on the potential club record acquisition of Aubameyang before responding to an inquiry about his character and whether he would fit in at Arsenal.
“Yes,” said Wenger, “because character can be a very positive note and it can be a very negative note. I believe overall you look at the achievements of a player during his career and usually, when a career has been very positive, the character has been used in a positive way.”
Those comments soon prompted a furious reaction from Dortmund, who told Wenger to focus on his own struggling team and then left the 28-year-old Gabon striker out of the squad for Friday night's Bundesliga match against Hertha Berlin.
Aubameyang was also excluded from last Sunday’s match against Wolfsburg after missing a team meeting and, while Arsenal are now closing on a deal that could also involve Olivier Giroud, Dortmund are deeply unhappy at how their player has become unsettled.
“We find it disrespectful to speak about players of other clubs,” said Michael Zorc, Dortmund’s sporting director, in an official club statement. “We assumed that Arsene Wenger would have enough to do to take care of the performances of his own players.” Arsenal have won just one of their last six matches to fall eight points off even the top four and are ready to offer Aubameyang a contract until 2021.
No fee has yet been agreed with Dortmund but, following the departures already this month of Francis Coquelin and Theo Walcott, as well Alexis Sanchez’s imminent move to Manchester United, Giroud could be the next major exit.
Dortmund were also keen on Giroud last summer and Wenger noticeably refused to rule out his departure this month. “It can be many theories - at the moment I cannot tell you much more,” he said rather cryptically, when asked whether Giroud, who has scored 105 goals across six seasons at Arsenal, could leave if Aubameyang came in.
Aubameyang has scored 141 goals for Dortmund in four-and-a-half seasons, including 21 this campaign, and has the additional endorsement of Sven Mislintat, Arsenal’s new head of recruitment. Mislintat moved from Dortmund to Arsenal in November and was previously instrumental in identifying Aubameyang when he moved to the Bundesliga from Saint-Etienne in 2013.
He is understood to have reassured Arsenal over Aubameyang’s temperament, although the decision to leave him in Dortmund and away from the first-team squad was apparently taken in response to how poorly he had trained earlier in the day. “We felt that he is not at 100 per cent with his mind focused,” said Zorc. “We’ll see if this will help him. It’s a difficult situation.”
Arsenal were also interested in the Bordeaux winger Malcom but Aubameyang is the transfer priority, with Wenger adamant that it is still possible for his squad to be strengthened by the end of this month, even amid the Sanchez departure.
It is the first transfer window in which Wenger has worked directly with Mislintat and, while Arsenal now look likely to add two players in Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan who were also at Dortmund, he is adamant that he retains ultimate control over transfer policy.
“It is no different,” said Wenger. Asked if he still had final say over signings, Wenger added: “Yes.” He did, however, admit that the club must overhaul their strategy. “We have to revisit the way we structure our club, and our scouting policy,” said Wenger. “You look at world-class players now, you look at Ronaldo, Neymar, Sanchez, their level of financial demands and the level of their costs, you have to go younger and certainly these players are not affordable.”
Wenger believes that Arsenal can compete by becoming an attractive destination for the very best emerging talent because of his willingness to play younger players. “What is important today is that we are the club that can maybe give them a chance, more than many other clubs,” he said. “Modern football has created a kind of game where the best players in the game are grouped to a various small number of clubs but that doesn’t mean that you cannot compete on the pitch.”
Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere are also out of contract in the summer but Wenger remains hopeful that they will both still extend their contracts and is certain that they will not leave this month. “We have to very quickly get over this transfer period because for us especially it has been more disturbing than ever,” he said. “Why? Because we have such influential players close to the end of their contracts and it has been more destabilising than ever.”