Dortmund warn Arsenal the clock is ticking on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as they name him in matchday squad

Stuart Franklin/Bongarts/Getty Images
James Benge27 January 2018

Borussia Dortmund have brought Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back into their squad as talks over the striker’s move to Arsenal stall.

An increased offer worth over £50million has not brought a breakthrough to talks between Dortmund and Arsenal, which ratcheted up on Sunday when chief executive Ivan Gazidis led a delegation to Germany in a bid to secure Aubameyang’s signature.

Arsene Wenger insisted today that he would not want to part with Olivier Giroud to facilitate a deal, and had insisted after Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea that his side could cope without Aubameyang if a deal couldn’t be done.

Dortmund, though, are keen to cash in on Aubameyang, who they have dropped from the matchday squad on three occasions since the start of 2017 due to disciplinary problems. The Gabon striker also missed last week’s 1-1 draw with Hertha Berlin as he was deemed to be distracted by transfer talk.

Despite that, head coach Peter Stoger insisted that talks with Arsenal would not preclude him from selecting Aubameyang in Saturday’s Bundesliga game against Freiburg, with the club subsequently confirming he was in the matchday squad.

“He showed a very focused and professional week of training and gives the impression that he will give everything for BVB,” Stoger said. “And because of that, we want to use his quality.”

The Dortmund boss had stated in his pre-match press conference: “I’ve never had this thought because the possibility that someone gets injured in training is as high as in a game.

“I don’t leave someone out just because we have a plan to sell him. It’s not safer for the player, to leave him out but let him play in training instead.

“If someone is fit we will let him play. So not that [leaving out Aubameyang] doesn’t cross my mind.”

Dortmund could do with having their star striker back on song as they battle to secure a Champions League spot. They currently find themselves sixth in the table in a six team tussle for three spots behind runaway leaders Bayern Munich.

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