Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang has eclipsed club legends Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi by reaching double figures for Barcelona quicker than the two-star strikers.
The Gabonese striker moved to the Catalan giants on an 18-month contract after Arsenal waived any transfer fee in order to make the move permanent in January.
The 32-year-old has been an instant success for Barca, having scored 10 times in just 14 appearances since joining two months ago – all while even failing to find the net in his first three appearances.
It’s even more impressive given that Aubameyang had previously been banished from Arsenal’s first-team set-up and stripped of the captain’s armband by Mikel Arteta.
His latest goal in Barca’s 3-2 victory over Levante means he has netted 10 of those in his last 11 games – meaning that he has gone into double figures quicker than multiple club legends such as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
Messi’s debut came at the start of his career when he was just 17-years-old and he took 38 matches to reach that figure while Suarez took 24 games to hit 10 goals for the club.
Aubameyang has also reached that total quicker than David Villa (18 games) and Patrick Kluivert (26) while 14 games is as many matches that took Samuel Eto’o to reach that figure.
Only three players have scored 10 goals at Barca in a faster period of time and that includes iconic names such as, Ronaldo Nazario (nine matches), Romario (nine) and Laszlo Kubala (13).
Aubameyang has been a bright spark for Barcelona and has been vital in helping boss Xavi turn their fortunes around after what originally looked like it was going to be a miserable season.
The striker opened his account for Barca with a hat-trick in a huge 4-1 victory over Valencia in February.
He also found the net against Napoli, Athletic Bilbao, Osasuna, Galatasaray and most recently against Levante but his most impressive and decisive game was his double in the 4-0 El Clasico victory at Real Madrid last month.
His form has been superb, all to think that Barcelona were not planning to sign him despite monitoring his situation with the priority going into the window being Spain forward Alvaro Morata.
When Atletico Madrid – who still own the Juventus loanee – vetoed the idea of strengthening a La Liga rival, the Aubameyang deal was back on the table.
The player himself couldn’t believe his good fortune. It was just short of midnight on deadline day when, having terminated his contract with Arsenal, he signed with Barcelona.
They were able to register him with the league on February 2 because he was a free-agent.
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