It has not been aneasy start for Xavi Hernandez at the helm of Barcelona but he eventually started to deliver results. The Cules are currently in UEFA Champions League spots in the La Liga standings while they also are in contention for the Europa League title.
The change of managers is certainlya reason behind theirimprovement but the January signings have also given this team a boost. If not, just look at Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who hasnât stopped scoring since he signedfor the Blaugrana.
As Memphis Depay and Luuk de Jong struggled to produce before the winter window,Barcelona seized the opportunity to land Auba for nothing. Despite he was not playing at Arsenal, the move has worked out incredibly well so far.
Aubameyang emulates Cruyff, Ronaldo, Maradona in first months at Barcelona
When he set foot at Camp Nou, there was certain skepticism around the32-year-old. His goalscoring production suffered a steep decline in the Premier League outfit and he had not played for months as Mikel Arteta separated him from the squad.
However, Aubameyang proved all his doubters wrong. With seven goals in10 appearances, Aubameyang had a similar startto many Barcelonalegends such as Johan Cruyff, Ronaldo Nazario, Diego Maradona, Romario or Ronald Koeman, who have all scored at least that number of goals in theirfirst 10 games at the club.
Aubameyang isthe striker with thebest start atBarcelonain the 21st century
Apart from emulating Cruyff and others, Aubameyang has also had the most prolific start for a Barcelona striker in the 21st century. His seven goals in 10 games arebetter than many other renowned forwardsâ stats.
Samuel Etoâo (6),Zlatan Ibrahimovic (5), Thierry Henry andDavid Villa (4) couldnât score as much as Auba did after 10 games,while the likes of Antoine Griezmann (3), Luis Suarez (2) and Neymar (1) are far behind the Gabonese on that list.
This doesnât mean that he has already proven to be better than any of them or that he will eventually leave a greater legacy. But it does suggest how impactfulAubameyang has been in his first months as a Cule.
