Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would rather stay and fight for his Chelsea place until the end of the season than move to Los Angeles FC on loan.
Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan are all considering summer moves to try to sign Aubameyang, who was left out of Chelsea’s Champions League squad for the knockout stages of the competition.
Chelsea have held talks with LA FC, Gareth Bale’s last club, about Aubameyang moving to the MLS but the striker does not consider it the right time of his career to go to America.
Aubameyang is aware of the interest in him from Europe ahead of the summer, but currently wants to work as hard as possible at Chelsea and is determined to do everything in his power to fight for his Premier League place.
Aubameyang returned to training on Monday this week and has been praised for his application and attitude by head coach Graham Potter since being told he had been dumped from Chelsea’s European squad.
Aged 33, Aubameyang still feels he is more than capable of playing for one of Europe’s top clubs and is aware that players such as Karim Benzema and Luka Modric have enjoyed some of their best years late in their careers.
Aubameyang was a huge success at Barcelona in the second half of last season, scoring 13 goals in 23 games, and his attitude was praised by manager Xavi, who described him as “a gift from heaven.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Potter will reinstate Aubameyang into his squad for Saturday’s lunchtime trip to West Ham United, which Raheem Sterling is due to miss with a knock picked up in training.
But asked about Aubameyang and whether or not he had any news of LA’s interest, Potter said: “Nothing to report. He’s been training with us this week and training really well. A really good professional, supporting his teammates. He’s doing everything I expect, training well and acting well.”
Aubameyang has scored three goals this season, including one in each of Chelsea’s Champions League group stage victories over AC Milan, which were the team’s best performances and results under Potter to date.
Joao Felix has returned from suspension and is expected to start against West Ham and it is understood that Aubameyang would be keen to play with Chelsea’s on-loan signing.
Defender Thiago Silva is set to sign a one-year extension to his contract after agreeing to stay at Chelsea and the club remains hopeful N’Golo Kante, who is still out, will sign a new deal.