Is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Still Elite? The Real Answer

Right, let's talk about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Once the man defenders had nightmares about, now the subject of a very awkward question: is he still any good? Because a €1.5 million move to Spain's second tier isn't exactly the transfer news that makes agents do a little dance. It's the kind of fee you'd pay for a decent second-hand car, not a striker who once cost Arsenal €60 million. So what happened, and is there anything left in the tank? Grab a drink. This one's got layers.

The Deportivo move: what actually happened

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang transferred to Deportivo La Coruña from Marseille for a reported €1.5 million. Deportivo competes in the Segunda División, Spain's second division. For a player who once commanded nine-figure wage packets at Arsenal, that's a significant step down in both fee and competitive level.

The move was reportedly confirmed after a challenging spell at Marseille, where Aubameyang had been attempting to rediscover the consistent form that once made him one of the most feared strikers in Europe. Early reports suggest he scored in his opening matches for Deportivo, which observers have attributed to the difference in defensive quality between the second division and top-flight competition.

Official confirmation of the switch framed it as a fresh start — new club, new league, new chance to find form. Whether this represents a tactical reset or simply reflects the market's assessment of a 35-year-old striker remains an open question.

Aubameyang's stats: the numbers behind the name

Aubameyang's career numbers are substantial. He reportedly scored around 92 goals in 163 appearances during his Arsenal spell between 2018 and 2022 — a strike rate most modern forwards would find impressive. That included Golden Boot form and a spell as the club's talisman before things soured.

Internationally, he's been just as prolific. Reportedly around 72 international goals for Gabon, putting him among the highest-scoring African players in the sport's history. He's also reportedly won the African Player of the Year award roughly four times — not a fluke, not a purple patch, a genuine decade of excellence.

But here's the number that actually explains the Deportivo move: a reported 30% decline in conversion rate between 2020 and 2024. That's not noise. That's a striker who used to bury half-chances now watching them drift wide. Age catches up with everyone eventually — usually right around the time your pace does.

Career trajectory: from Dortmund to the Segunda

To understand how we got here, you've got to rewind. Aubameyang reportedly signed with Borussia Dortmund back in 2013, the move that properly launched him into the European spotlight. From there, it was a fairly relentless climb: prolific in the Bundesliga, then a reported €60 million move to Arsenal in 2018 that made him one of the most expensive strikers in the club's history.

The Arsenal years had genuine highs — captaincy, goals, adoration from the Emirates faithful — before it all unraveled. Aubameyang was reportedly stripped of the Arsenal captaincy in 2021 following disciplinary issues, a fall from grace that still gets debated by Arsenal fans down the pub to this day. Mikel Arteta, the man who handed him the armband and then took it away, became an unavoidable part of that story.

He reportedly departed Arsenal in 2022, landing at Barcelona on what was reportedly a reduced contract — a pay cut that told its own story about where his stock stood. Then a loan move to Chelsea in 2023 with an option to buy that, notably, nobody rushed to trigger. By 2024 he'd reportedly joined Marseille, still hunting for the consistent purple patch that once defined him. Somewhere in there he also reportedly attempted an international comeback with Gabon, because apparently retirement wasn't on the agenda yet.

It's a trajectory that reads like a Greased Lightning solo — fast, thrilling, then a slow, slightly bumpy landing.

Does he actually fit Deportivo's system?

Here's where it gets interesting, and where most of the coverage on this move stops short. Deportivo La Coruña, rebuilding their identity in the Segunda, need exactly what an aging-but-experienced striker can offer: a focal point who knows where the net is without needing to sprint the length of the pitch to find it.

Aubameyang was always a system striker — thrived on pace in behind at Dortmund and early Arsenal, but by Barcelona and Chelsea, that reliance on speed had become a liability against faster, better-organized defenses. A Segunda División setup, generally less structured defensively than the Premier League or La Liga proper, is arguably the perfect environment to mask a decline in pace while still exploiting elite finishing instinct.

In other words: put a slightly slower Aubameyang in a division with more space and less tactical discipline, and you might just get one more real purple patch out of him. It's not a like-for-like fit with his Arsenal peak — but tactically, it's a sensible landing spot rather than a charity case.

Is Aubameyang still elite? The real answer

Nine times out of ten, "is [aging striker] still elite" questions get a diplomatic non-answer. Let's not do that here. The honest answer: no, not by the definition that made him elite in the first place — explosive pace, clinical finishing under top-flight pressure, week-in-week-out Champions League output. That version of Aubameyang isn't walking through the door at Deportivo.

But "elite" isn't binary. A 35-year-old with a reported 30% drop in conversion rate can still be elite relative to Segunda División defending. Elite doesn't have to mean Ballon d'Or contention — it can mean the smartest, most clinical player on a given pitch on a given Saturday. By that lower but still meaningful bar, Aubameyang scoring in his opening Deportivo matches suggests he's still elite enough for this level.

My honest take: judged against peak Arsenal Aubameyang, this is decline, full stop — no spin needed. Judged against the average Segunda División number nine, he's still a cut above. Fans expecting vintage 2019 Auba are going to be disappointed. Fans expecting a smart, experienced poacher who nicks eight or ten goals in a promotion push? That's a much more realistic — and honestly more likely — outcome.

Market value and where his career stands now

A €1.5 million fee tells you everything the market thinks about risk here. Compare that to the reported €60 million Arsenal paid in 2018 — a demotion in valuation of roughly 97%. That's not just age; that's the market pricing in inconsistency, injury history, and a career that's bounced through four clubs in four years.

Career-stage wise, Aubameyang sits exactly where you'd expect a 35-year-old ex-elite striker to sit: too good for total obscurity, not reliable enough for a top-flight starting job. Deportivo represents a low-risk, low-cost bet that could still pay off if he stays fit and the goals keep coming in a lower-pressure environment. If they don't, nobody's out much more than the transfer fee of a mid-table Segunda squad player.

That's the real story here — not decline as failure, but decline as the natural, slightly bittersweet arc every great striker eventually walks. Thierry Henry ended up at the New York Red Bulls. Wayne Rooney ended up at Derby. Aubameyang ending up scoring goals in the Spanish second tier isn't a scandal. It's just football's version of retirement planning.

So, is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang still elite? He's elite the way a well-worn pair of boots is elite — not flashy, not new, but still gets the job done if you point it at the right goal. Peak Auba isn't walking back through that tunnel. But a smart, still-hungry version of him just might do a job in the Segunda. Watch this space, and maybe don't sell your vintage Arsenal shirt just yet.