Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has hailed Graham Potter after he succeeded Thomas Tuchel as Chelsea’s head coach and is looking forward to working under him.
The 33-year-old joined Chelsea on Deadline Day from Barcelona in a deal worth €12 million on a two-year deal, plus the option of a further 12 months.
He arrived at Stamford Bridge under the management of Thomas Tuchel and made his debut for the club during the 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.
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12 hours later and Tuchel was sacked, soon being replaced by Potter who is now at the helm following the managerial decision by the club’s new owners.
Tuchel was a key reason for Aubameyang deciding to move to Chelsea, however he will need to quickly get over the German’s departure, and is already looking forward to learning and playing under the 47-year-old.
“I think he is a person who is really positive and with a great character,” said Aubameyang after Chelsea’s 1-1 draw against FC Salzburg in the Champions League.
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“We will try to learn with him. We want to win as soon as possible. No, (it won’t take long to adapt). I think his idea is very clear so I think it is going to be easy
“I think it takes time to adapt to each other as well but it is going to be okay. When you play for Chelsea you need results as soon as possible. That’s why I am frustrated today.”
Aubameyang expressed his sadness at Tuchel’s departure and revealed he is yet to speak to the now former Chelsea head coach.
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He added: “I haven’t spoken to him yet. I think he was a bit frustrated and sad but I will try to talk to him soon. It has been some crazy weeks for all of us I think.
“That’s part of life, we have to adapt. Everyone knows the relationship I have with Thomas.
"It is always sad when someone leaves the club. I only saw him for a few days but this is football.
“When you play football you sometimes have to adapt very quickly to moments like this that can happen in a season.”
Todd Boehly, Chelsea Chairman and co-owner, revealed the reasons for deciding to sack Tuchel, stating it was down to a different alignment of views over the future of the club.
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At the SALT Conference in New York, he said: “When you take over any business, you have to make sure you’re aligned with the people who are operating the business. Tuchel is obviously extremely talented and someone who had great success at Chelsea.
"Our vision for the club was finding a manager who really wanted to collaborate with us, a coach who really wanted to collaborate. There are a lot of walls to break down at Chelsea. Before, the first team and academy didn’t really share data, didn’t share information about where the top players were coming from.
"Our goal is to bring a team together, all of that needs to be a well-oiled machine. The reality of our decision was that we weren’t sure that Thomas saw it the same way we saw it. No one is right or wrong, we just didn’t have a shared vision for the future.
“It wasn’t about Zagreb, it was about the shared vision for what we wanted Chelsea to look like. It wasn’t a decision that was made because of a single win or loss. It was a decision that we thought was the right vision for the club.”
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Chelsea, Graham Potter, Thomas Tuchel, Football
