Borussia Dortmund have told Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that he will not be allowed to leave the club this summer. The striker had been linked with a move away from the Bundesliga but the German club gave him a deadline before which he had to leave and that deadline has now passed.
“We consider the transfer window closed. The timing [of it all] was decisive in the end,” said that Dortmund sporting director, Michael Zorc, on Tuesday.
The Gabon international, who scored 31 league goals in 32 games last season, had been expected to move to China, the Premier League or Milan in Serie A but he has been told that he will continue his career in Dortmund.
Chelsea were mooted as possible suitors as they seek to replace the departing Diego Costa, though a formal bid was never submitted to Dortmund and their priority is still understood to be Real Madrid’s Álvaro Morata.
The Dortmund CEO, Hans-Joachim Watzke, said on Sunday that they had given the 28-year-old, who joined Dortmund in 2013, “a few days” to make his mind up and the German magazine Kicker reported on Tuesday that the deadline has now passed.
Aubameyang, incidentally, faced Milan, one of the clubs interested in signing him, in a friendly on Tuesday and scored twice in a 3-1 win. The new Borussia Dortmund coach, Peter Bosz, said after the game: “Aubameyang was fantastic today. He played just the way we want him to play.”
