Aubameyang reveals how he ended up with Henry’s iconic No.14 shirt at Arsenal
Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has revealed he was unsure about wearing the No.14 shirt once donned by club legend Thierry Henry.
The Gabonese forward moved to the Emirates from Borussia Dortmund for £56m in January 2018 and has since netted 61 goals in 97 appearances across all competitions.
Why didn’t Aubameyang want Henry’s number? Five things to know…
- Aubameyang joined Arsenal from Dortmund for £56m in January 2018.
- He’s since scored 61 goals in 97 appearances across all competitions.
- Upon joining, he looked to take the No.9 or No.7 shirt numbers.
- But Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan already laid claim to those respectively.
- Aubameyang settled for Henry’s fabled No.14 shirt but hasn’t looked back since.
Just like Henry before him, Aubameyang won last season’s Premier League Golden Boot award, although he shared the honour with Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane on 22 goals.
However, the 30-year-old admits he had reservations about taking up the No.14 jersey at first, instead looking to wear No.9 or No.7 – with the latter being vacated by Alexis Sanchez upon his departure to Manchester United.
But Aubameyang was left with little choice, given that Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – who joined Arsenal as part of Sanchez’s move to United – already occupied those respective numbers.
“I like two numbers, nine and seven,” he toldArsenal’s official website.
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“But he (Lacazette) has nine and Miki had seven. I asked Miki before I came ‘will you be taking the No.7?’ and he said yes so I said ‘OK I will try something else’.
“He left, but I scored a lot of goals with this number 14 so I leave it like this.”
How did Aubameyang learn his acrobatic celebration?
Given his prolific nature, Aubameyang has had plenty of time to work on the art of goal celebrations over the years, with the former Saint-Etienne forward incorporating superhero masks such as Spider-Man and Black Panther in the past.
Nowadays, he’s more likely to show off his skills as an acrobat and although some may fear Aubameyang succumbing to injury as he leaps through the air, the man himself insists he’s had plenty of practice at home perfecting his craft.
He said: “I’ve been doing it for too many years now.
“I practised at home first on the sofa! On my bed!”
