Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will not get his wish to return to Barcelona in the January transfer window, according to reports.
The Blues signed the Gabon international in the summer transfer window for €12m from Barcelona but it hasn’t gone to plan at Stamford Bridge for the 33-year-old.
Aubameyang only left Arsenal a year ago for Barcelona but there are reports that he is once again unhappy in London with a report yesterday claiming he is ‘depressed’ and wants to leave Chelsea.
It was Graham Potter’s predecessor Thomas Tuchel who pushed for the signing of Aubameyang and the striker has only played 88 minutes in three appearances since the Blues returned from the World Cup break.
The report on Wednesday said that Aubameyang is ‘seriously considering’ forcing an exit from Chelsea with claims he has been back in touch with Barcelona boss Xavi in an attempt to engineer a move back to La Liga.
It was suggested that Aubameyang would have to ‘significantly reduce his wages’ in order to complete a January transfer move to Barcelona.
However, Mundo Deportivo have now dismissed any notion that Aubameyang could return to the Catalan giants in the winter with the transfer looking impossible.
The Spanish newspaper claims that Aubameyang ‘cannot return’ to Barcelona as the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) would ‘strictly prevent’ any transfer as ‘three registrations are not possible in the same season’.
Because Barcelona waited until August 31 to offload him to Chelsea it would be seen as three transfers in a season as the Catalans registered him to play before he moved to Stamford Bridge.
‘Article 130 regarding the limitations on the licenses of soccer players in the RFEF Regulations is very clear: “A soccer player may be registered in a single team of a club, without the possibility of being discharged and registered by the same in the course of the same season, except in cases of force majeure or regulatory provision. Likewise, during the season, he may not be registered and line up in more than three different ones.”
‘In LaLiga they have it clear that the striker could not be recovered by the Barça club this season to play in the national competition, even arriving for free.
‘Article 141.5 on the processing of licenses for footballers within a season is also firm in its point 5: “Footballers whose license is cancelled, may not, during the same season, obtain a license in the same club team to which they were already linked”.’
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