Does Tottenham now have a shot at signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?

Recent events may give Tottenham a real shot at signing Dortmund star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Let me start this off by very clearly stating that I don’t think Tottenham is going to end up with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this summer. My point, instead, is that recent events have opened the door for Spurs to swoop in like never before.

I must also admit that the possibility of Spurs signing Aubameyang excites me to no end. Adding a dynamic, pacy attacker like him to play with Harry Kane in the Tottenham attack could be a potentially devastating combination for Premier League defenders. If you allow yourself to dream a moment, it really does come off as the perfect potential addition.

Before this week, I dismissed any notion of Spurs being a real factor for the Gabon striker’s services as purely fiction. If he were to leave Dortmund, I thought the bidding process would be way too crowded for Tottenham to get a deal done. However, this week’s events have me thinking a little differently.

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Firstly, Dortmund have clearly initiated a rebuilding of their squad. They’ve sold Mats Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan already this window, and it’s quite likely that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will also exit the Bundesliga club. These high-level departures have already caused Aubameyang to sit down and have a serious talk with Dortmund’s ownership over the future at the club.

It’s not hard to imagine the striker becoming disillusioned with the project at Dortmund. He already realizes that fighting Bayern is an uphill challenge for the club, and the departure of some of his most talented teammates is only going to make it more difficult. He could easily come to a logical conclusion that he needs to move elsewhere if he wants to compete for league titles.

Even considering the Dortmund exodus, before the last several weeks, he still would have been a solid bet to end up at a club other than Tottenham. In particular, Arsenal and Manchester United would have seemed like real favorites for his services. Things at both clubs have changed drastically as of late, and make them much more unlikely landing spots should the prolific striker leave Dortmund.

Arsenal adding Aubameyang would make a lot of sense, if only it wasn’t being widely reported today that Arsene Wenger is hot on the trail of Leicester front man Jamie Vardy. Given the multitude of reports claiming that Wenger has met the English international’s release clause, it’s safe to assume that at the very least, the Gunners’ attention is focused elsewhere at the moment.

If Arsenal are actually successful in their chase for Vardy, it would likely remove them from any potential Aubameyang sweepstakes. They would lack the financial resources to tempt both the club and the star striker for making the switch to North London.

Manchester United still could be a potential option, but Aubameyang really doesn’t feel like a Jose Mourinho type player to me. There’s also the fact that “The Special One” is likely to give Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial every chance to secure the Red Devils’ attack once the season begins. I believe that Mourinho badly wants to dispel the notion that he can’t develop youthful talent, and it might even have been a condition of his hiring at Old Trafford.

If you pencil Rashford and Martial in as starters, it really reduces the available playing time for Aubameyang with United. There simply wouldn’t be enough room to fit the Dortmund ace.

Taking Arsenal and Manchester United out of the mix doesn’t make Tottenham the favorites to land him, but it gives them a puncher’s chance. Yes, it would still take a sizable transfer bid to get the deal done, and other clubs could easily jump into the fray. In particular, I think PSG would become a huge player for Aubameyang if he become available.

The point is that Tottenham would have a chance. The club’s recent success under Mauricio Pochettino, their passionate fan base, plus the new stadium on the way might just be enough to tempt the Gabon star. The stuff of a Spurs attack led by Harry Kane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is truly the stuff White Hart Lane dreams are made of.