Aubameyang joins newly promoted Deportivo on a return to Spain
Deportivo have made their most eye-catching move since winning promotion, signing 37-year-old Gabon forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Marseille.
Jul 18, 2026
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is going back to Spain, and this time it is not with one of the giants. Deportivo La Coruna confirmed on Friday that they had signed the Gabon striker from Marseille for a fee reported at around 1.5 million euros, handing their newly promoted side its most recognisable name in years. He has signed a deal that runs until 2028.
For a club that has spent the best part of a decade climbing back, this is a statement. Deportivo finished second in the Spanish second division last season to seal promotion, and they will play in La Liga for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign. Bringing in a striker with Aubameyang’s medal collection and goalscoring record is exactly the kind of move a promoted club makes when it means to stay up rather than simply enjoy the ride.
Still scoring at 37
The obvious question with any 37-year-old forward is whether the legs have gone. Aubameyang’s recent numbers suggest they have not. In his second spell at Marseille he made 41 appearances across all competitions and scored 14 goals, ten of them in Ligue 1, and he was doing it in a side playing Champions League football. That is not a player being eased towards retirement. It is one who still backs himself to lead a line.
He has done it almost everywhere. Saint-Etienne gave him his platform in France, Borussia Dortmund turned him into one of Europe’s most feared finishers, and Arsenal made him captain and watched him win a Golden Boot. There were spells at Barcelona and Chelsea after that, then the move back to Marseille that reminded everyone he could still find the net at the top level. Deportivo are getting a forward who has scored in most of the leagues that matter.
What Deportivo are buying
Promoted clubs live and die by the fine margins, and the ones who survive usually have someone who can turn half a chance into a goal. That is the role Aubameyang is walking into at the Riazor. He is not being asked to run the channels for 90 minutes the way he did a decade ago. He is being asked to be clinical when it matters, to drag defenders around and to give a young squad a reference point in the box.
There is a risk, of course. A striker in his late thirties on a two-year deal is a gamble against the calendar, and La Liga defences will not give him the time he once had. But 1.5 million euros for a proven goalscorer with this kind of pedigree is not the sort of outlay that sinks a season if it does not come off. If Aubameyang hits even a modest return, Deportivo will feel they got a bargain.
For the player, it reads like a homecoming of sorts. He spent formative years in France and thrived there, and Spain already knows him from his Barcelona days. Now he gets to be the main man again at a club with real history and a fanbase that has been starved of the top flight. Whether it works or not, a promoted Deportivo signing Aubameyang is the sort of story that makes the summer window worth watching.