Arsenal made £51.8m January bid for Aubameyang

Arsenal made a massive bid in excess of £50 million for Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, according to reports in Spain.

El Confidencial is reporting that Arsenal made a mammoth bid of £51.8 million in January for Borussia Dortmund’s Gabonese striker Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, but the German side were unwilling to part ways with their star man.

Aubameyang was on fire at the time, having scored 26 goals before the winter break in Germany, and the 27-year-old’s form had alerted a host of elite clubs to his abilities.

And Arsene Wenger reportedly identified the former AC Milan forward as the man to add some dynamism up front for the Gunners during a period in which French striker Olivier Giroud was going through a 12 game barren spell in from of goal.

But Dortmund were resilient in their stance that they would not be willing to part ways with one of their best players in the middle of the season.

This summer there were rumours that Manchester City had made a bid for Aubameyang, but against Dortmund refused to sanction his sale, having lost Mats Hummels to rivals Bayern Munich, Ilkay Gundogan to City and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Manchester United.

Arsenal have since moved to bolster their attacking options with the signing of Spanish forward Lucas Perez from Deportivo La Coruna, who is able to play wide or centrally as a striker.