Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel, has claimed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is hungry to play for the club.
Tuchel said the 33-year-old wants to prove a point ahead of his possible debut for the club in the Champions League.
The Blues signed Aubameyang from Barcelona on Deadline Day, seven months after he was shown the door at Arsenal by head coach Mikel Arteta.
Aubameyang suffered a fractured jaw during a break-in ahead of completing his switch to Stamford Bridge but travelled with the Chelsea squad to Croatia and trained wearing a protective face mask ahead of Tuesday’s Group E opener against Dinamo Zagreb.
Tuchel confirmed Aubameyang. could make his debut either from the start or from the bench against Dinamo and is relishing watching the 33-year-old prove his point as the spearhead of the Chelsea attack.
“We had the opportunity to take everybody who was available to Zagreb to do our last training here, that includes Denis [Zakaria] and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang,” Tuchel told his pre-match press conference.
“Aubameyang had a test with his mask, felt fine, trained normal, so if everything goes well today, they will both be available.”
On Aubameyang, Tuchel continued: “He’s the sort of player [to thrive in adversity], he’s very ambitious, very focused, and he’s hungry to play for us and prove a point still.
“That’s why he’s here, that’s what we felt from the first moment and he’s happily invited to prove a point tomorrow.”
