Jose Mourinho says Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who shared the Premier League Golden Boot with Sadio Mane and Mo Salah last season, would score even more if he played for the Reds.
The African striker tends to play out on the left for Arsenal when Alexandre Lacazette starts, and while he prefers to play down the centre, Mourinho says if Aubameyang played for the Reds, he could do very well on the left of the front three.
His reasoning for that was largely because of Roberto Firmino being better at linking the play than Lacazette is.
Via the Liverpool ECHO, Mourinho said to Sky Sports: “I think Aubameyang probably likes to play in the middle because he feels that he can score more goals. But maybe he can score as many goals playing on the left.
“What happens in Liverpool, Firmino drops back, in between the lines. Then he gives more space for [Mo] Salah and [Sadio] Mane to attack these diagonals.
“I could see Aubameyang playing on that left-side for Liverpool and scoring a lot of goals. Arsenal, Lacazette doesn’t have that quality.”
We’re more than happy with Mane as the left-sided option for the Reds, but Mourinho’s comments show just how good Firmino is. Lacazette is a top player, shown by his strike yesterday, but Aubameyang would do even better with the Brazilian alongside him.
Firmino is one of those players who makes the rest of the team around even better just by him being on the pitch.