Chelsea has signed Barcelona forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Juventus midfielder Denis Zakaria on loan. Gabonese striker Aubameyang, 33, scored 13 goals in 24 appearances for Barcelona after joining the Spanish club from Arsenal in February.
Left-back Marcos Alonso has agreed to leave Chelsea and is expected to join Barcelona. Chelsea has the option to sign Zakaria on a long-term contract. The Swiss international, 25, joined Juve from Borussia Monchengladbach in January.
Aubameyang signed for Barcelona with a buyout clause of 100 million euros (£83.4 million), but he has only played eight minutes this season. Barcelona is looking to offload players after spending nearly £200 million on new signings despite being more than £1 billion in debt.
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The deal for Aubameyang means Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly has spent £255.3m in his first transfer window since buying the club from Roman Abramovich – the highest amount any English club has spent in a single transfer window.
Aubameyang said: ‘I’m really happy. It’s an honour to be part of this team and I can’t wait to start. I have some unfinished business with the Premier League so it’s good to be back and really exciting.’
He played 163 games with Arsenal, scoring 92 goals in all competitions, however he left on a free transfer after a dispute with manager Mikel Arteta. This departure was a key component of the Gunners documentary All or Nothing.
Since his transfer to Arsenal on January 31, 2018, Aubameyang has scored 68 Premier League goals, which is four more than any other player.
Between 2015 to 2017, Aubameyang was a Borussia Dortmund player for Thomas Tuchel, the Chelsea manager. During that time, he scored 79 goals in 95 games, 38 more than under any other boss.
