Is Aubameyang underrated?
Despite being one of the most recognisable faces in the Premier League, it feels strange to ask the question but is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang underrated? I’ll ponder why he doesn’t necessarily attract the acclaim one might expect, look at why he’s so important to Arsenal and put his statistics in context by taking a look at his peers.
Lack of Silverware
As with all team sports, football is undoubtedly a game which requires a group to function at least as well, if not better than the sum of its parts in order to be successful. Even though we all know this, we sometimes fall victim to the ‘Cult of the Individual’. This is despite the fact that the manager/head coach, teammates and the style of play should all factor into the analysis. If, for example, Francesco Totti left hometown club AS Roma to join Juventus or Real Madrid and won the lot, would we talk about him in the same way we talk about Zidane? Of course we all love to debate, but it’s an issue which is in my opinion far too pervasive in football.
All of which brings me to Aubameyang. Even with his talent, his trophy cabinet is surprisingly bare in comparison to other ‘world class’ strikers. He has won a long list of individual accolades which speak to his consistency of individual performance, and yet has only won less than a handful of silverware, at Saint-Étienne and Borussia Dortmund respectively. Appearing in neither the biggest cup games at the end of the season when the light shines brightest, nor in the big league title deciding games, this could help explain why he has never managed to crack the Ballon D’or Top 10 despite his form over the last few years.
Position Issues
In Lewandowski’s final season at Dortmund, he combined well with Aubameyang who was playing on the wing. Aubameyang then moved into the middle and devastated defences with his movement, pace in behind and lethal finishing. However, the question of where he is best deployed on the pitch is one which has followed him since. At Arsenal, under both Emery and Arteta, he has been played frequently out wide. He does lack some of the hold up play strikers such as Benzema or Lewandowski have made such features of their game, and to an extent maybe the team around him struggles a bit more with him as a focal point.
However, being expected to play in such a traditional back to goal way isn’t necessarily in keeping with the direction of travel of the modern game. Look at Liverpool for example, who play mostly with Firmino as a False no. 9, or Cristiano Ronaldo’s teams at Real Madrid and Juventus, who either utilised the Portuguese in a front two or off the left. The modern game is changing, and Aubameyang’s ability to link up brilliantly with a strike partner such as Lacazette, or to stretch the play and get in the box with great movement off the left shouldn’t be skills easily dismissed. Although he has played in less heralded teams, he has managed to score a ludicrous amount of goals in the last few seasons, which if anything is a feat even more impressive than the ones managed by some of his contemporaries.
The only player currently above Aubameyang in the Premier League goalscoring charts is Jamie Vardy, a similar type of striker who plays up top on his own at Leicester, which shows that in a better functioning team than the one Arsenal currently are, there is no reason why he couldn’t potentially improve his goal output in a similar role.
League MVP? Stat Attack
Aubameyang is Arsenal’s best player. Fact. He has scored an incredible 42.5% of Arsenal’s goals this season, mostly from the left wing. Apart from Jack Grealish at Aston Villa and Jamie Vardy at Leicester, I genuinely can’t think of another player who’s form and fitness is so inextricably linked to the fortunes of their team. The mere fact that Arsenal are 9th in the table, even with Aubameyang being the league’s second highest goalscorer, says many things about both his ability, and the underperformance of those around him. A joint golden boot winner from last season, his Premier League pedigree needs no caveat; he is undeniably one of the best goalscorers in the Premier League at this moment in time.
As I touched on above, the stats convey this emphatically:
Premier League 2019/20 - 17 goals in 26 games
Premier League 2018/19 - 22 goals in 36 games
Premier League 2017/18 - 10 goals in 13 games
Bundesliga 2017/18 - 13 goals in 16 games
Bundesliga 2016/17 - 31 goals in 32 games
Bundesliga 2015/16 - 25 goals in 31 games
A quick check of the trusty phone calculator shows that he has, incredibly, scored 118 goals in his last 154 league games! That’s a goal every 0.77 games for the past 6 years. Yes, Ronaldo and Messi have raised the bar in terms of goal scoring ratios in the last 15 years, but Aubameyang’s numbers stack up to any player in world football. In addition, compared to the likes of Agüero, Lewandowski and Salah, Aubameyang hasn’t played in a team which has gone on to sweep up end of season silverware, nor has he been surrounded with top tier talent in all positions. Despite his Golden boots in both England and Germany, along with his long list of individual accolades, being written out of the dramatic end of season finales year after year appears to have dulled his star with football’s pundits.
League Goal Tally From The 2015/16 Season Onwards
Aubameyang’s tally of 118 league goals since the beginning of the 2015/16 season puts him only behind Robert Lewandowski on this list of his contemporaries; a testament to both his fitness, consistency and his quality. If nothing else convinces you, hopefully this hammers the point home; Aubameyang is a baller at the highest level.
Style Of Play
Whether coming in from the left, playing in a front two, or upfront on his own, Aubameyang’s game is all about movement. Pacy with good dribbling, his tactical insight into the game is sometimes underappreciated, but being in the right place at the right time is a skill which will always be king in football. Headers, sweeps into the far corner, devilish dinks with either foot and deft finishes at the near post are all a part of his game.
His ability to strike the ball so cleanly can be seen with some of his great strikes from the edge of the box, finishes into the roof of the net from tight angles, or indeed the incredibly acrobatic volley for his most recent Arsenal goal.
Another aspect of his game which can’t help but catch the eye, is the swagadocious link up play, usually but not exclusively with Lacazette. The technique, awareness and subtlety in his armoury are not always factored into the conversation, but nevertheless are key components to his game.
Another, less obvious facet to his play is his workrate. Under both Emery and Arteta, Aubameyang has shown a willingness to press from the front and track back on the left wing, traits which have particularly been highlighted since the recent change of management.
Speaking after the chaotic 3-2 win over Everton in February, Arteta explained that he also had some concerns about the player when he took over. “I had two questions,” he said. “One was he doesn’t want to do it or he cannot do it physically, so once I found out that physically he could do it, it was just about convincing him that he needs to do it every three days and he is doing that.”
This is a player who does need convincing and cajoling to some extent, but he is not unique in that regard in the modern game. The fact that he has so far consistently stepped up to the mark under Arteta shows not only his desire to win, but also his leadership capabilities, seeing as he was voted one of the club’s captains by his teammates, and later upgraded to full time status after the Xhaka debacle.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Aubameyang belongs in the conversation when we debate the identities of the best forwards in world football. He has consistently shown in the last few years that in a number of systems and positions, he can deliver for his team. Even with the lack of team silverware, the positional intrigue, or lack of appearances under football’s brightest lights for club or country, he is clearly one of the best footballers in not only African, but World Football.
His decision to either sign a new contract or seek pastures new will have a big impact on Arteta’s ability to turn the Arsenal ship around quickly; he may reject any deal put on the table to play for one of Europe’s most vaunted teams. However, even if he doesn’t, let’s make sure we give him the props he deserves whilst we can.