Thomas Tuchel has described his time with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as a ‘pleasure’ during a press conference ahead of Chelsea’s clash with Tottenham on Sunday.
Tuchel worked alongside the 33-year-old striker at Borussia Dortmund between 2015 and 2018, with Aubameyang playing a central role in the team that lifted the DFB-Portal trophy in 2016.
Though he refused to comment on the speculation linking Aubameyang with a summer move to Stamford Bridge, Tuchel explained the positive relationship that he enjoyed with the Barcelona forward:
“This is totally separate from anything that is happening now, but I enjoyed a lot working with Auba while I was at Dortmund,
‘Some players stay your players because you were very very close and Aubameyang is one of these players. We had a very close relationship and always when we played him here with Arsenal it was always straight away this close bond.’ He added.
Asked his thoughts on the Aubameyang’s well-publicised issues with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, Tuchel explained that his experience with the Gabon international had been different:
‘I experienced none of [the issues]. This has nothing to do with the situation at Arsenal which I will not comment on out of respect because it is not for me to comment.
‘But at Dortmund there was never an issue.’
Speculation linking Aubameyang for a move away from the Nou Camp has been mounting since Barcelona signed Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich earlier this summer.
At this time it remains to be seen if the 33-year-old would consider a move to Chelsea given his ties to rivals Arsenal, though his departure from North London was acrimonious.
Chelsea are in the hunt for a new striker this summer having let £97.5m club record signing Romelu Lukaku return to Inter Milan on a season-long loan, while Timo Werner has rejoined RB Leipzig.