Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has admitted that Henrikh Mkhitaryan, his former Borussia Dortmund teammate, was a key to his making the Arsenal switch. Aubameyang made the transfer from BVB to the Emirates on January transfer window deadline day, in a move that broke the Arsenal club transfer fee record.
Aubameyang came over just one week after Mkhitaryan came to Arsenal from Manchester United, in a swap deal that saw Alexis Sanchez going the other way.
Aubameyang, in an appearance on the Arsenal Weekly podcast, described how the Armenian recruited him.
“He called me a few times,” Aubameyang said.
“He asked, ‘Will you come or not?’ I said, ‘First, you have to tell me if you sign or not.’ He told me all was done and, of course, it was a big factor in coming here. It’s like [being reunited with] a brother. It’s a good friend. We played together in the past and I’m really happy to see him again.”
The two had great chemistry together at BVB, and obviously there’s high potential of the duo replicating that in North London. Mkhitaryan was somewhat of a flop at United, perhaps he sees his career revived here? Aubameyang and BVB simply had to part ways towards the end, because that relationship was no longer working out.
However, the pair didn’t take long to re-establish connecting at the north London side.
“We understand each other on and off the pitch, so I think that’s why it’s a little bit easier on the pitch,” Aubameyang said after Mkhi assisted him on a goal this past weekend.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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