Chelsea manager Graham Potter said it was nonetheless a “tough decision” having to leave Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of their Champions League squad for the knockout stages but insisted the Gabon striker is still not without a role to play at the London club.<\/p>\n
Aubameyang was noticeably absent from the 25-player list named on Friday and there was also no place for January-signing Benoit Badiashile although British record transfer Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk \u2013 who joined for an initial fee of 70 million euros from Shakhtar Donetsk \u2013 and loan signee Joao Felix were also included in the list.<\/p>\n
“Pierre’s a professional and I understand he will be disappointed. It was a tough decision,” said Potter.<\/p>\n
“We had three coming in and two had to go out. He was the one that has missed out. It’s absolutely nothing bad against him. He has done nothing wrong at all.”<\/p>\n
Aubameyang performance has been unimpressive since joining the club from Barcelona in September, scoring only one Premier League goal in 11 appearances, with his last Premier League start in November and he was also subsequently substituted in a 1-0 defeat by Manchester City in early January coming off the bench.<\/p>\n
“Pierre’s just unfortunate and he will be fighting for his place for the rest of the season. He has handled it very well,” Potter said. “He’s been a top, top guy for us.”<\/p>\n
Chelsea are only allowed to register a maximum of three new players for the knockout stage when they visit Borussia Dortmund in their last-16 first leg tie on Feb. 15.<\/p>\n
Big money-signee Badiashile joined from Monaco in early January but was left out with Chelsea amply stocked at center back with Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly all included.<\/p>\n
All clubs are limited to a 25-man squad and Chelsea used 24 players in the group stage, with only one of them – Jorginho – leaving the club in the January transfer window.<\/p>\n
Chelsea currently sit ninth in the Premier League on 30 points after Friday’s 0-0 draw with Fulham at home.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"