Aubameyang keeps options open: Real Madrid not only club in the world

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang says he’ll “100 percent” stay at Borussia Dortmund beyond the current transfer window, but if his exit is engineered shortly after then, it wouldn’t necessarily be to Real Madrid – the outfit he’s dubbed his “dream club.”

“Yes, yes. That’s true but, you know, there is not only Real Madrid in this world,” he told football daily Bild, with translation from ESPN FC’s Stephan Uersfeld.

Aubameyang’s devastating pace and ferocious strike rate up top for Dortmund have unsurprisingly attracted a legion of admirers, with Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain apparently eyeing the Gabon international, and, after four seasons at the Westfalenstadion, he could be open to offers.

“Nobody can foresee the future,” the 27-year-old said. “I love it at Dortmund, but I can’t say that I’ll stay for two more years, or five or 10. It’s possible that a club could reach an agreement with Dortmund in June and I’ll go.”

The 27-year-old has taken his goal-scoring form to the Africa Cup of Nations, scoring in each of Gabon’s group bouts on home soil so far, after already recording 16 strikes across 15 Bundesliga appearances this term.

Aubameyang responded to reports that Real Madrid’s manager, Zinedine Zidane, is seeking a different kind of player to him at the Santiago Bernabeu by supplementing his claims that he’s not clinging on hopes of moving to the Spanish capital.

“I don’t know if that’s true but, also, I am not interested in it,” he declared. “If Real want me, they will call me one day and, if not, no problem. I live my life and am optimistic about the future.”

He additionally played down any talk of him reuniting with his former Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and, to the delight of a BVB support that has seen its squad continually gutted by Bayern Munich in recent seasons, a shift to Bavaria is completely out of the question.

“I would never join Bayern,” he said. “That’s for sure. That would be too hard on the Dortmund fans. Whatever they’d offer me, I’d say no.”