The evening of August 28, 2022 and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is at home in Barcelona, playing video games and waiting for news as talks continue about a potential transfer to Chelsea.
Aubameyang is relaxed — content to stay in Spain or help ease Barcelona’s financial worries by returning to England, where he flourished for Arsenal before leaving somewhat acrimoniously.
This is a footballer who started at Milan and also counts Borussia Dortmund among the sides he has represented in a 16-year career featuring more than 300 senior goals and transfer fees totalling around $100million (£81m). The possibility of another move for Aubameyang, wife Alysha and their young children, Curtys and Pierre, is nothing abnormal. Suddenly, however, the relative calm turns into chaos.
“My eldest son came running and said to me, ‘Dad, some guys are in the house’,” says Aubameyang. “I said, ‘Just hide’.
“They came in from outside, where my wife was smoking with my cousin and her boyfriend. They took him (the cousin’s boyfriend) and came into the house. My wife was screaming. They had a gun.”
Aubameyang says he “grabbed a big bottle” and went upstairs to try to confront the intruders.
“At the same time, my sister-in-law was there with our little one,” he continues. “I…
