"It's a process; we're going to go step by step" — not the most electrifying battle cry, but from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, it's the right one. The 37-year-old has joined Deportivo de A Coruña as they return to La Liga for the first time since their 2018 relegation, and neither he nor the club is pretending this is anything other than a survival mission with ambition stapled to the side.
Aubameyang arrives with genuine La Liga pedigree. His 11 goals in 18 games during the second half of Barcelona's 2021/22 season helped drag them from ninth to second place — a run that still gets glossed over when people talk about that Xavi rebuild. He left the Nou Camp when Barça couldn't afford to keep him. Now he's back in Spain, just with considerably different surroundings.
A veteran role, not a vanity signing
Depor didn't sign Aubameyang to be the finished article. They signed him because he's been around elite football for two decades and can steer younger players through the demands of a division they haven't competed in for seven years. He's clear-eyed about that.
"They called me because I can bring my experience, my voice, and I can help on the pitch and off the pitch," he said. "This is going to be my role at the club."
That dual function — goals plus mentorship — matters for a newly-promoted side with a squad built around youth. Depor will need every scrap of top-flight experience they can find if they're going to avoid an immediate return to the second tier. Aubameyang at his best can still move, still finish, and still read a game. Whether that holds across a 38-game La Liga season at 37 is the real question.
The Depor story is worth caring about
It's easy to file this under "aging striker looking for one last contract" and move on. That would miss the point. Deportivo won La Liga in 1999/2000 and reached the Champions League semi-finals just two years later. They're one of nine clubs ever to win the Spanish title — a list that hasn't been added to in 26 years. The fall from that to Segunda División and back again is one of European football's more quietly sad stories.
Aubameyang grew up watching that Depor side. So did a lot of people. The club also has a notable history of African players making their mark — Cameroonian goalkeeper Jacques Songo'o and Moroccan defender Noureddine Naybet were both part of that title-winning squad. Aubameyang is conscious of that thread.
"It's always a good thing to be representing Africa all around the world and especially here at this club," he said.
Survival is the objective this season. Anything beyond mid-table would be a bonus, and anyone backing Depor for a top-half finish should think carefully. But for a club rediscovering what La Liga feels like, having a striker who has scored goals at Barcelona, Arsenal, and Borussia Dortmund is not nothing. Aubameyang still has something to prove in Spain. Depor gave him the chance to prove it.
