Graham Potter believes people have formed the wrong impression of Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang following his acrimonious exit from Arsenal – with Chelsea’s head coach describing the forward as a “really quiet, really humble, nice person who wants to support the team.” However, Aubameyang has embraced working with Graham Potter and his staff and has scored three goals in ten appearances following the arrival of the former Brighton head coach.
Graham Potter said: “I think you should treat people how you find them and not pre-judge. That is my perspective. I think everybody deserves that. Everybody is different. Just because you drive a fast car doesn’t necessarily tell you too much about your personality or character. You might just like cars. That is not something that has ever bothered me to be honest. I can only speak as I find him and he’s been really good. Whatever the preconceived idea of him was, it wasn’t that. He’s a quiet guy, so maybe the outside thinks he’s this loud, flashy person but he’s not. We have found him really quiet, really humble, nice person who wants to support the team. He has been really respectful all the time. His taste in cars is a bit different to mine and his taste in clothing is a little different to mine, but I’d like to think we’ve got some similarities as well. He’s got kids, he’s a family man. He wants to enjoy his football, he wants to be happy, he wants to be supported, he wants to be part of the team. I found him really nice to work with.”
And what about Aubameyang’s time-keeping, a supposedly persistent issue during his time at both Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal? “You can’t be late driving those cars, can you?” replied Potter with a smile.