30 goals scored in a single season, we haven’t seen that for 20 years at OM. In this season missed by the 2023-2024 squad, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will have carried the weight of the entire Olympian attack on his experienced shoulders.
First four months in troubled waters
And yet, things didn’t start so well for him. Despite a double against Panathinaikos in the return match, the start of the season for the former Dortmund serial scorer resembled that of a striker at the end of his career, who, at the age of 34, was no longer capable of weighing on defenses like he did in his younger years. The future will tell us that it was mainly due to a lack of rhythm following a season without playing for Chelsea. Until December, we only saw one small goal scored in Ligue 1, against Le Havre at the Vélodrome. To see him plant a few pawns, you had to watch the Europa League. A double in Amsterdam to validate the interim of Pancho Abardonado, then nothing more until his superb hat-trick against the same Dutch at the Vélodrome. “The click”, as he explained to our microphone in an interview to be found on video.
Placed at the heart of the Gasset project
In December, he finally regained his sensations and put an end to his drought in Ligue 1. Goals against Rennes and Lyon at the Vélodrome, a double in Lorient to validate his first Phocéen trophy of the month. In January, he will get stuck a bit, despite scoring two goals. We then had to wait for the arrival of Jean-Louis Gasset at the club to see him thrive again in Ligue 1 and in the Europa League. Under his orders, he scored 15 goals in 19 matches, half of his goals. His coach will say that he is “the player” of this team and will put him in the best position, limiting his defensive tasks and allowing him to gain speed from the left towards the center, which he prefers. With Leonardo Balerdi and, to a lesser degree, Jordan Veretout, he is one of the rare satisfactions of this poor season.
Figures that make you dizzy
Statistics mean a lot to an attacker. With OM, he became the top scorer in the history of the Europa League. He will also finish the exercise with 10 goals in C3 and the title of top scorer in the competition. In total, with 12 goals scored in Europe, he is the top Olympian scorer in a European season, and already OM’s third top European scorer of all time, behind Mamadou Niang and Jean-Pierre Papin. Aubameyang also finished 4th top scorer in Ligue 1 and 2nd most decisive player in the league if we add his assists. He made eleven offerings, just one less than Marseille’s best passer of the season, Jonathan Clauss. Suspended for the first day of next season, will he still be in Marseille during the weekend of August 24-25? On June 18, he will be 35 years old. He has two years left on his contract in Marseille.
