Arsenal’s fastest player statistics have been leaked by striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The latest stats show Aubameyang overtake Hector Bellerin to claim the top spot. This kind of information is normally secretive and protected by clubs, but the leaderboard was posted on the Gabon striker’s Instagram stories.
17 first team players are shown in order of fastest to the slowest which has two columns – ‘Max Speed’ and ‘percentage of Max Speed’. The former Borussia Dortmund forward, who is well known for his blistering pace, claims top spot with a score of 10.01. Bellerin drops to second with 9.63 and surprisingly, summer recruit Sokratis Papastathopoulos has pipped Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck to third with 9.59.
Lucas Torreira is the slowest player with 8.73 as Mohamed Elneny is just above him with 8.76.
Aubameyang posted the snap with a caption poking fun at new boy Matteo Guendouzi, who achieved only 93 per cent of his max speed. It read: “How are you 93? You can still make progress.”
Born in Laval as the son of former Gabonese captain Pierre Aubameyang, Aubameyang began his senior career in 2008 after being promoted from the youth-setup at Milan. However, he never appeared for the first team, and was instead loaned out multiple times to Ligue 1 clubs. Although renowned for his speed, having clocked 30 metres in 3.7 seconds, he was often used sparingly on loan until joining Saint-Étienne in 2011. Following multiple good individual performances to guide a depleted team to mid-table in 2012, Aubameyang built upon his performances to include goalscoring the following season. After establishing himself as the core component of the team, he ended the campaign as Ligue 1’s second-top goalscorer, with 19 goals, while also winning the 2013 Coupe de la Ligue. This garnered him a move to Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, for a rumored fee of €14 million.
In Germany, Aubameyang, under the tutelage of Jürgen Klopp, adapted his game from a winger, to a complete forward. Winning the 2013 DFL-Supercup in his debut, he received plaudits for his technical skills and finishing; gaining comparisons to Thierry Henry. In the following seasons at Dortmund, Aubameyang established himself as one of the best forwards in the world, as he recorded 141 goals in 213 games, including a 31-goal haul in 2016–17 as he won the league’s top scorer award. However, after only recording another DFL-Supercup and a DFB-Pokal to his name in Germany, he voiced his desire to leave, and relocated to England to join Premier League side Arsenal in a club-record deal worth £56 million (€64 million), making him the most expensive Gabonese player of all time.
At international level, Aubameyang has played 56 matches for the Gabon national team since his debut in 2009, scoring 23 goals. He represented his country in three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, as well as the 2012 Summer Olympics. For his performances at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Aubameyang was named CAF’s African Footballer of the Year, becoming the first Gabonese player to win the award