Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel sympathized with his former player Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after he was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy, and confirmed that he would contact him when the time came.
Aubameyang was stripped of the captain’s armband on Tuesday after a disciplinary offense, and coach Michael Arteta said he would not include him for the team that faces West Ham later in the day.
Tuchel Aubameyang trained at Borussia Dortmund for two seasons, during the best period of the Gabonese striker, when he scored 79 goals.
“I will contact him at some point to try to help him but I also don’t want to bother him,” the German told reporters ahead of hosting Everton on Thursday. He was a very important player for me, we had a close relationship.
He continued, “I can only praise Aubameyang as a player and as a person.” I feel sorry for him because he’s in trouble, this is not the place where he should be with the quality and personality he has.
He continued: But I do not know what is happening in his club now. I also want to show my respect by not participating in judging what is right or wrong in the matter.
Tuchel confirmed that his player N’Golo Kante will return to the bench, as will Trevoh Chalubah, and only Mateo Kovacic, who has Covid-19, and Ben Chilwell, who suffers from a knee injury, are absent from the team.
Chelsea fell in recent weeks to lose the top spot in the league, falling to third place, and did not keep a clean sheet in the last five games in all competitions.