EMMANUEL PETIT claims Chelsea’s £25million pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang smacks of a “panic buy”.
Blues boss Thomas Tuchel is desperate to land Barcelona’s former Arsenal striker before Thursday’s transfer deadline having worked with him at Borussia Dortmund.
Tuchel badly needs reinforcements following the departures of Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner.
But ex-Arsenal and Chelsea star Petit – a French World Cup winner – said: “Auba looks more a panic buy than something the club have been thinking about for months.
“The transfer market is ending in a few days and Chelsea are in a panic.
“They want to buy defenders, strikers, but they just don’t know what they want.”
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When asked about the Blues’ pursuit of Auba, 33, Tuchel admitted: “I enjoyed working with him at Dortmund a lot. It was a pleasure.
“We had a very close relationship, a close bond. They always stay your players in a way – Auba is one of these guys.”
Petit, 51, spent three seasons with the Blues and three with the Gunners.
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He told fairbettingsites.co.uk: “I don’t see the real qualities behind it, the projection in the future.
“If you want to spend so much on a player, you need to have a vision, but I don’t see that coming from Chelsea.
“It’s a gamble. He can score goals but he has to be fit physically and be good in his mind.”
