Alexandre Lacazette says he ‘didn’t like’ Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before Arsenal arrival
Posted by  badge Boss on Apr 18, 2022 - 07:21PM
Aubameyang and Lacazette became close friends at Arsenal (Picture: Getty)

has revealed he was not keen on before the striker moved to l in 2018.

Aubameyang, 32, left the Emirates in January to join after falling out-of-favour with boss Mikel Arteta.

Before his departure, Aubameyang and Lacazette enjoyed a close friendship together and performed well when selected as strike partners for the Gunners.

However, speaking to Canal+, Lacazette disclosed a dislike for Aubameyang’s social media activity prior to the striker arriving from Borussia Dortmund and claimed the Gabon international has a different personality away from the public.

He explained: ‘I had some misconceptions about him. Before he arrived, I didn’t like him. To be honest, I’m not mates with the Aubemayang you see on . I’m mates with Pierre-Emerick. People don’t know Pierre-Emerick. They know Aubameyang.’

Despite arriving six months apart at Arsenal, Aubameyang and Lacazette were rarely played together in a two up front with the former often pushed out to the left-wing.

Aubameyang has been scoring freely at Barcelona since joining in January (Picture: Getty)

However, during Unai Emery’s time in charge, they were particularly fruitful in Arsenal’s run to the Europa League final in 2019, with both players scoring all four goals in a memorable 4-2 away win at Valencia.

At the start of this season, Arteta briefly rekindled their partnership as Aubameyang and Lacazette starred in a 2-0 victory at Leicester City in October.

But a loss of form and a breakdown in relationship with Arteta saw Aubameyang sold to Barcelona in January putting an end to his time in north London.

Since going to the Nou Camp, Aubameyang has notched eight goals in nine league games for his new side. Lacazette, in contrast, has scored just four league goals this season.

But the Frenchman believes hitting the back of the net is not everything in football.

He added: ‘Social media, statistics, for me that’s not football. Football is the guys on the pitch and their passion.

‘When I was younger I started to believe in it, but then in growing up, I saw that it’s not the most important for me to score loads and loads of goals every season because at Lyon I scored plenty of goals but at the end of the day I won very few trophies.

‘I would have preferred to score five goals and win a trophy each season.’

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