Chelsea: Why Atletico Madrid and Milan couldn’t sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is cut a frustrated figure at Chelsea. The player was mooted to leave Chelsea in the January transfer window after failing to nail a starting spot in Graham Potter’s side but a move couldn’t materialize because of certain reasons.

Aubameyang signed for Chelsea from FC Barcelona in the summer of 2022, reuniting with Thomas Tuchel. However, Tuchel was sacked just a week later. When Potter took over the reins at Stamford Bridge, Aubameyang’s position came under threat as the former Brighton boss did not trust the Gabonese striker in entirety.

The 33 year old has just started four Premier League games and has three goals in 18 games for Chelsea. Potter has preferred Kai Havertz in the striker’s role over Aubameyang, making it clear that the former Arsenal man doesn’t feature in Potter’s regular plans.

Aubameyang was handed another major blow when Chelsea and Potter made the decision to omit the striker from the UEFA Champions League squad for the knockout stages. They wanted to register new signings Mykhaylo Mudryk, Joao Felix and Enzo Fernandez and had to remove one non-homegrown player from the squad. Aubameyang’s omission has now made him consider his immediate future at Stamford Bridge.

Why Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang couldn’t complete a January transfer

Aware of his situation, Aubameyang was looking to leave Chelsea in the winter transfer window and even attracted interest from European clubs. According to Evening Standard, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan were keen to sign the Gabonese striker but couldn’t proceed to sign the player because of FIFA regulations.

As per the FIFA regulations, a player can only be registered twice and in the 2022-23 season and the player has already been registered with Barcelona and Chelsea. So, even if an agreement would have been reached between Chelsea and a prospective buyer that is not Barcelona, Aubameyang wouldn’t be able to complete the move and register for the new team.

A return to Barcelona was also mooted in January after the Blaugrana sold Memphis Depay to Atletico Madrid but the Spanish side decided to reinforce other areas of the pitch, making an attempt to sign Sofyan Amrabat from Fiorentina.

Aubameyang was also left out of Chelsea’s match day squad against Fulham despite being fit and youngster David Datro Fofana was chosen over the Gabonese forward. The 33 year old player has also been loosely linked to Everton but the same problem would arise.

Will Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leave CFC in the summer?