Chelsea star makes big prediction for Aubameyang at Stamford Bridge

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be a ‘big addition’ for Chelsea, reckons new teammate Mateo Kovacic, who thinks the striker is still likely to score 20-25 goals this season.

Chelsea news, exclusives and analysis

The 33-year-old arrived at Stamford Bridge from Barcelona for a fee of just over £10m, returning to London just seven months after leaving Arsenal for La Liga.

The veteran forward is yet to make his Blues debut as he is recovering from a broken jaw, but when he does get on the pitch, Kovacic is expecting big things.

Things may have ended badly for the Gabon international with the Gunners, but he went to Barcelona and scored 13 goals in 24 games in an impressive stint.

Kovacic thinks he still has a lot of goals in him despite his advancing years and reckons Aubameyang can give the Blues a shot at the Premier League title.

‘I can say he will be a big addition to us,’ said Kovacic. ‘He’s a proper striker, a goalscorer, which we have missed.

‘In the last years we haven’t had a 20, 25-goal striker that you need to win the title. So we’re looking forward to having him in our squad.

‘He’s a proven goalscorer. It’s normal for him to score goals and I hope he will do it here at Chelsea also.’

Thomas Tuchel has hinted that Aubameyang could be involved when the Blues go to Dynamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday night after training in a mask to protect his jaw.

It is a delicate injury to deal with but Tuchel says training has gone well and his new signing is likely to be on the field soon.

‘He’s very ambitious, focused, hungry to play for us, hungry to prove a point, still,’ said the manager of his striker. ‘That’s why he’s here and that’s why he plays for us. So we’re happy for him to prove a point tomorrow.

‘Auba trained on Sunday with his mask and had a test and felt fine. There were no issues yesterday when he trained and I hope there will not be today.

‘If an issue were to come up we would not put him in of course. I think he could maybe start, but I think he cannot play 90 minutes. So it’s on us to take a decision to manage his minutes.

‘It’s clear though that he needs minutes to find full match fitness and rhythm.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news onFacebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Source: Read Full Article