Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan on alert for Chelsea’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan are all on alert following Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shock Chelsea Champions League omission.

The Spanish duo and Italian side have all made enquiries ahead of potential summer moves for Aubameyang since he was left out of Chelsea’s squad for the knockout stages, plunging his Stamford Bridge future into doubt.

Barcelona were keen to re-sign Aubameyang in January, following his prolific spell at the Nou Camp which ended when he left to join Chelsea last summer, though those hopes were scuppered by FFP concerns.

So too were Atletico and Milan, though FIFA rules prevented him joining either side as he could not appear for a third different club this season.

Aubameyang started his senior career at the San Siro and also scored home and away against Milan in this season’s Champions League group stages.

Chelsea left Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of their Champions League squad on Friday

It has sparked immediate interest in the striker from a trio of prominent European clubs

Meanwhile, his reputation and belief in his goalscoring qualities also remains high in Spain after his exploits last season at Barcelona, joining mid-season to help them qualify for the Champions League.

Aubameyang was the surprise casualty with head coach Graham Potter only able to register three of his January signings for the rest of this season’s Champions League and having to cut one player from the existing squad to do so.

Since making his move to Stamford Bridge in August, Aubameyang has been unable to establish himself in Chelsea’s side, his form suffering along with the entire team, Kai Havertz often being deployed as a No 9 instead and January’s influx of signings increasing the attacking competition.

Potter has praised Aubameyang’s conduct at various points this season and was keen to stress ‘he’s done nothing wrong at all’ while explaining the decision to him from his European plans.

The call, though, has created suspicions among some close to Aubameyang that Chelsea are keen to ease the striker out in their ongoing attempts to build a younger squad and address their wage bill.

Aubameyang joined Chelsea on an initial two year contract, with the option of a further year, which is worth in excess of £200,000-per-week.

On the decision to omit Aubameyang, who missed Friday’s stalemate against Fulham after being given the weekend off and travelled to Milan, Potter said he was confident that keeping him onside for the remainder of the season will not be an issue.

He said: ‘I don’t think it’s going to be difficult because Pierre is a professional and of course, I understand he will be disappointed. It was a tough decision, a tough call. He was the one that missed out, he’s done nothing wrong at all.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang appears to have left England for Milan on a winter holiday abroad

The Chelsea striker (left) posed for a picture as his teammate’s took on Fulham on Friday

‘Pierre is just unfortunate and he will be fighting for his place for the rest of the season.

‘He trained today [Friday], he trained very well and he’s got the weekend off so we can report on Monday. It’s a free world.

‘Whichever decision we made there was always going to be a conversation about it but it was my decision. It was a tough decision absolutely, sometimes you have to make these calls but it’s absolutely nothing bad against him.

‘It was difficult [telling him] because I am empathetic so I understand his disappointment but I’ve got a responsibility to make these tough decisions and to articulate them as honestly and as well as I can to the player and then respect the fact that he’s going to be disappointed. 

‘He’s handled it very well, trained today fantastically which is what I would expect. He’s been a top guy for us.

‘Everything is up for grabs. He’s got to keep working, train like he did today and be ready to play because football changes quickly. That’s the nature of the game.’