On Thursday, January 7, 2016, African football dignitaries gathered in Abuja to celebrate the annual Glo Confederation of African Footballers (CAF) awards. The event saw Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang emerge as the African Player of the Year. Pierre has worked very hard over the past year and unsurprisingly he should be a winner. Everything you need to know about him is included below:
Bio, Life and Family
Aubameyang was born to a Gabonese father and a Spanish mother on June 18, 1989 in France. The man who is going to become the best player on the African continent was born in France although he grew up in Spain.
It was not surprising that the man decided tochoose football above all because he grew up in a family involved in sports, since his father was also a footballer when he was young. Apart from that, he continues to serve as a talent scout for AC Milan after football. In addition, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has two other brothers who are also footballers.
girlfriend, relationship and children
Very close to his own family, especially his father and mother, Pierre-Emerick has also started a family of his own, although he is not yet married. The man was in a fairly long relationship with his girlfriend Alysha Behague, which began more than 8 years ago.
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang career
He currently plays for the Gabonese national team. He previously played for France’s U-21 national team and Gabon’s U-23 national team. Like his father, he is the current captain of the team. He scored Gabon’s first and only goal during the football tournament at the London 2012 Olympic Games. He is also Gabon’s top scorer with 19 goals.
It was in 2007 that Aubemeyang was allowed to start his professional career when he joined AC Milan and played for their youth team. He soon made a name for himself as a forward to watch out for. He joined Dijon on loan in 2008 and once again put in a very good performance despite being just 18 at the time. From here he went on to Lille in 2009. He moved to Monaco and Saint-Étienne before finally settling with Borussia Dortmund in 2013.
He signed a five-year deal with Dortmund that would keep him at the club until 2018, making him the first Gabonese player to play in the Bundesliga. He immediately made a name for himself by scoring a hat-trick on his debut. He was the first to achieve this in the club’s history. He finished the season with 16 goals in all competitions. The next season was even better as he finished with 25 goals from 46 appearances.
At the start of the 2015/6 season he signed a new contract which would keep him at the club until 2020. The season was another successful one for him as he became the first player in the league to score 8 goals in the first 8 games of a season. The person who scored the most before he came was 5 goals in the first 5 games. The season ended with 37 goals in all competitions but lost the Bundesliga top scorer to Robert Lewandowski. Still, he made up for it the next season as he scored 31 goals to finish as top scorer and also went beyond 100 club goals.
Pierre was wanted by English team Arsenal for a £44.6million offer he had turned down. according to him
“I don’t want to go to Arsenal. I won’t be leaving Dortmund any time soon.”
Nonetheless, he later moved to the club in January 2018 for a reported total transfer fee of £60m, setting a record club fee with the transfer. In his first game for Arsenal, the prolific striker scored a goal in the 5-1 win over Everton.
After winning the CAF Player of the Year award, Yaya Toure, who implicitly stated that Aubameyang’s win hurts Africa, was deemed undeserved.
5 facts about Pierre Emerick
- His father and older brothers Willy Aubameyang and Catilina Aubameyang are also footballers and have all played for AC Millan.
- He is a man of mixed heritage from Gabon, France and Spain.
- Aubameyamg is a Batman fanatic. He has many gears with the Batman logo, some of which he uses to celebrate a goal.
- The Arsenal man was once nicknamed the African/Gabonian Neymar because of their similarities in looks. However, he has made a name for himself and would no longer need that title.
- He has deadly speed. In 2013, he ran 30 meters in 3.7 seconds, almost faster than Usain Bolt.