Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang admits Jamie Vardy did something when he was at Arsenal that made him cry

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has admitted that he was brought to tears by something Jamie Vardy did when he was at Arsenal.

The Gabonese striker spent four years at the Emirates between 2018 and 2022, netting 92 goals in 163 appearances in a red and white shirt.

Leaving in controversial circumstances after falling out with Mikel Arteta, Aubameyang has since enjoyed stints at Barcelona, Chelsea and Al-Qadsiah, while he’s now playing for Marseille in the Champions League.

His spell at Stamford Bridge and the way in which he departed North London have prompted many Gunners supporters to resent the number nine, although it’s clear from this story that he cared deeply about playing for Arsenal.

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang says he cried when Jamie Vardy beat him to the 2019/20 Premier League golden boot

Arteta froze Aubameyang out in December 2021 after the striker was accused by the Spaniard of showing a lack of professionalism on multiple occasions.

Going back 18 months before this breakdown in relationship, the former Borussia Dortmund man was Arteta’s captain and talisman.

Aubameyang was Arsenal’s shining light in a miserable 2019/20 season, scoring 29 goals across all competitions for the Gunners.

Despite Arteta’s side finishing in a lowly eighth, the centre-forward was in contention to win the Premier League Golden Boot going into the final game of the season.

Arsenal hosted relegation-threatened Watford, while the league’s top scorer, Jamie Vardy, was set to lead the line for Leicester at home to Manchester United.

Aubameyang was on 20 league goals heading into this final set of fixtures, while Vardy had scored 23. The Englishman blanked against the Red Devils, while the Gabon international was only able to score twice to relegate Watford, meaning he narrowly missed out on the Golden Boot.

Speaking to TroopzTV, the ex-Gunners skipper explained that he cried after missing out on the award.

“Vardy won the Golden Boot and I was one goal behind,” he said.

“And I had a chance to score, like around the last minute.

“But after that game, I went home and my father took me in my room, and I was crying. I was crying because I wanted that title, you know.”

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s statistics 2019/20

Aubameyang was an elite centre-forward who carried Arsenal through a bleak period between 2018 and 2021.

That said, while his surface-level statistics were impressive, there were indications in his underlying numbers in the 2019/20 season that his level was starting to drop off.

His xG per 90 minutes dropped from 0.74 in the 2018/19 campaign to just 0.42, which clearly suggested that he was unlikely to sustain his goal-scoring form for much longer, as his creative output also declined significantly.

Arsenal perhaps should then have foreseen this substantial drop-off in the following season.