FC Barcelona’s Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang suffered an armed robbery at his home early on Monday, the Spanish club confirmed.
“It’s true. The player who suffered a robbery is Aubameyang. Now he’s fine, scared but fine,” a Barça source told AFP, confirming the first information that appeared in the press.
At least four men attacked his home in Castelldefels, on the outskirts of Barcelona, through the garden, and threatened the player and his wife with pistols and iron bars, hitting him, according to the newspaper El País.
The thieves would have fled the scene by car after forcing the Gabonese man to open a safe in order to take the jewels inside, the newspaper said.
A spokesman for the Catalan police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, confirmed an ongoing investigation into a robbery with violence in Castelldefels, but did not specify the identity of the victim.
“The investigation is open and all the information is being collected,” he told AFP.
This incident comes amid rumors of Aubameyang’s return to the Premier League following possible interest from Chelsea.
Aubameyang arrived at Barça in February from Arsenal, where he would have committed disciplinary offenses and his relationship with coach Mikel Arteta would not be cordial.
Several top-level soccer players in Spain have suffered robberies in recent months, although in most cases while the players were playing matches.
In June, police arrested six people in connection with a robbery worth three million euros at a house owned by former Brazilian striker Ronaldo.
The Italian soccer player of Paris SG Marco Verratti was spending a few days on vacation in Ibiza at Ronaldo’s property, but he was not there at the time of the robbery.
Earlier this month, the police recovered Barça’s Polish striker Robert Lewandowski’s watch, which was taken from him while he was signing autographs after training.
