End of Aubameyang saga welcomed by Stoger after £55m Arsenal deal

Harry West

End of Aubameyang saga welcomed by Stoger after £55m Arsenal deal image

Peter Stoger was glad to see an end to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's transfer saga and hopes Borussia Dortmund can narrow their focus to on-field matters.

Aubameyang completed his long-awaited move to Arsenal on deadline day, the Gunners parting with a club-record £55 million for his services.

Dortmund replaced the Gabon international with the loan signing of Chelsea's Michy Batshuayi - whom Stoger has suggested will go straight into the starting XI for Friday's trip to Cologne.

To complete the transfer triangle, Arsenal offloaded Olivier Giroud to Chelsea, but with the window now shut, Stoger hopes a good deal of the media furore will die down heading into the business end of 2017-18.

"It's good that it's over because that issue occupied so much space in public," Stoger told Bild.

"Now there's not that issue anymore behind which you can hide.

"In my time here he [Aubameyang] never came too late.

"Only one single time he skipped our team meeting and only one single time he practiced badly because he wanted to put a sign [out], apparently. But apart from that he behaved reasonably."

Harry West