FC Barcelona found themselves in a huge financial mess when Joan Laporta was re-elected as the club president in 2021. He knew he had a huge job on his hands that went beyond just making the club competitive again.
Financially, the Spanish club were in complete ruins, due to many ill-advised transfer decisions during the previous presidential tenure. The Covid-19 pandemic added to the complication and Barcelona are still reeling from the after-effects.
To help rebuild the club, Joan Laporta depended on Mateu Alemany, who was appointed as the director of football and Jordi Cruyff, who served as the sporting director of the club for a couple of seasons. The trio worked brilliantly with Xavi Hernandez to make the team competitive again.
The painful departure
In a long interview with SPORT, Jordi Cruyff was asked about various topics that happened during his stint as Barcelona’s sporting director and he named the player whose departure was the most painful at that point. He said:
“Aubameyang was one of the nicest and most successful signings. He had a huge impact. Yes, he had problems at his club, but here he was exemplary: attitude, positive energy, goals, some very important ones. His farewell was the most painful. Sure, you bring in Lewandowski, and they could’ve played together, but we needed Financial Fair Play room. Some players wouldn’t leave, and then he got an offer he really liked. He connected well with the fans, the squad, the club. A special guy.”
It is not often that you see a player who spent just half a season at the club being spoken about in the same pedestal as Aubameyang. Everyone at Barcelona loves him for his contributions during the time he spent at the club.
Aubameyang came to Barcelona at a very tricky point in his career. He moved to the club from Arsenal, where had fallen out-of-favour under Mikel Arteta and was stripped of captaincy and he had a point to prove when he moved to Spain.
What a brilliant half-season!
The 36-year-old played 24 games for Barcelona, scoring 13 goals and providing one assist. Eventually, he moved to Chelsea the following summer after the Catalan club signing Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich.
Fans would have loved to keep hold of Aubameyang, even if his game time might have been reduced with the arrival of the legendary Pole. Regardless, he will always remain a fan favourite at the Camp Nou and remembered as a player who helped the club out at a time when they were at rock bottom.
The Gabon striker is now a free agent without a club and it would be interesting to see where he moves next to continue his incredible career.
