Borussia Dortmund CEO admits no-one is irreplaceable amid Aubameyang to Arsenal links

Dortmund star: But the club have admitted they could replace their star man
James Benge12 January 2016

Borussia Dortmund have made clear that they are not dependent on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as reports link Arsenal with a £42.5 million bid.

Gabon international Aubameyang was among the star players of the first half of the Bundesliga campaign, hammering in 18 goals in 17 appearances to keep Thomas Tuchel’s side in touch with leaders Bayern Munich.

The 26-year-old has been consistently linked with a move to the Premier League, despite saying in October that his dream was to play in Spain, and club chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke admitted that Dortmund cannot compete with the financial muscle of English giants.

Watzke told Bild: “One must never make the mistake to believe that a club like BVB is dependent on a player. We are not dependent on anyone.

“When Robert Lewandowski left, we found [a replacement] and he even has three more goals than Lewa. We are now so well positioned that we can offer alternative solutions again and again.

“[Our aim is that] our team stays together. We do not have as much money as the top stars in the Premier League, but we have a lot of other things to offer - for example our players were able to celebrate Christmas.”

Though they lost Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich in consecutive seasons from 2013 Dortmund have repelled interest from European giants in several of their leading players since, and Watzke sees no reason why that cannot continue.

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“Last year around this time, many journalists wrote that our top players would be gone,” he said.

“Hummels was at Manchester United. Gundogan was with [Real] Madrid, Manchester or Barcelona. And where are they now? Still with us!”

Aubameyang signed a five year deal at the Westphalenstadion in July after capping his second season in Germany with a return of 25 goals in 46 games in all competitions, a mark he has already bettered this season.

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