Why Did Aubameyang Choose Deportivo? What the Veteran's Decision to "Take On the Weight" at a Club Newly Returned to LaLiga Asks of Us
A man carrying the "question" that is Aubameyang has returned to Spain
La Rosaleda, standing as if overlooking Málaga's old town.
On a pitch still soaked in Andalusia's lingering summer heat, one moment was quietly etched into memory.
In the 21st minute, Deportivo La Coruña's forward received the ball and found the back of the net.
The scoreline shifted, and that goal represented the club's entire tally for the season so far.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
What comes to mind when you hear that name?
His brilliance at Marseille. His half-season at Barcelona. His career with the Gabon national team.
A name known to fans across the world, and yet now he plays for a club that has only just been promoted from Spain's second division.
Deportivo La Coruña.
This storied Galician club, which once caused a stir in the Champions League, has returned to LaLiga this season after a long period in the wilderness.
And at that club, Aubameyang is running again.
The weight of the word "return"
Back in the top flight for the first time since the 2017-18 season, seven years on.
For Deportivo, this season is not merely a comeback, but a "proof" of everything they have built up over a long stretch of time.
Aubameyang joined that club.
Why did he choose this club?
Spanish media and journalists across Europe alike have yet to offer a clear answer to that question.
There may have been clubs willing to offer him a higher salary.
There were surely teams with a more stable position in the league.
Even so, he chose Galicia.
In the moment a player decides which club to join, there is something that cannot be seen from the outside.
Not the figures on a contract, but the atmosphere of the club, the feel of conversations with the manager, or perhaps something even more personal.
We look only at the result and nod in understanding, but before that choice, there must have been countless questions.
The meaning of a "choice" late in a career
A professional footballer's career has a clear "peak season."
The explosive power of youth, the stability of maturity, and then, from a certain point, a shift from the question of "how will I be used" to "where will I use myself."
The place Aubameyang finds himself in now sits right in the middle of that shift.
More than three years have already passed since his half-season at Barcelona in 2022.
In that time, he thrilled fans in Marseille, and now he has returned to Spain as the ace of a newly promoted club.
There is something slightly odd about the phrase "ace of a promoted club."
One can almost hear the voices asking, why would a man who was once a star at Europe's top clubs end up here?
But is that really the case?
The title of "star" and the notion of "influence" do not always align.
Being the one who carries every goal for a small club carries a completely different kind of weight from functioning as one part of a giant club.
Perhaps what he chose was to take on that very weight.
What a draw can teach us
The match ended 1-1 after Málaga's Chupe converted a penalty.
Deportivo took a point back home, while Málaga, still without a win this season, avoided another home defeat.
For both sides, it was "a point that fails to satisfy," and yet also "a point of genuine value."
In football, there are moments of having "grasped something" that exist outside the realm of winning and losing.
Things that do not appear on the scoreboard but that undeniably happened on the pitch.
Holding together a balance that was on the verge of collapse, running to the very end, or gaining a sense of momentum that carries into the next match.
Málaga have yet to record a win since returning to LaLiga this season.
And yet the fact that they have lost only once at home in their last 20 matches quietly shows that this club has not "broken."
It's worth paying more attention to the resilience behind that number, rather than the result itself.
| Perspective | A state of not winning | A state of not falling apart | How to view football |
|---|---|---|---|
| The meaning of the scoreline | No win recorded in the match | No losing streak or heavy collapse | ○ There is more to see beyond the result |
| A player's position | Buried at a top European club | Carrying every goal at a promoted club | ◎ The way "weight" is carried is reversed |
| A spectator's viewpoint | Following only goals conceded and results | Reading resilience and continuity | ◎ The deeper you watch, the more you see differently |
| Implications for player development | "We lost, so it meant nothing" | There is a clue in "we did not fall apart" | △ Distinguishing between losing and falling apart, and putting it into words |
| The logic of choice | Judging by numbers and name recognition | Choosing based on a club's atmosphere and the feel of talks with the manager | ◎ Information invisible from the outside can be decisive |
- Teach players to distinguish between "losing" and "falling apart" — Even without a result to show for it, point specifically to the resilience in defence or the fact that they ran to the end, and present it as a clue leading into the next match
- Include a "standard beyond victory" in your words after the match — Bring facts like "we did not fall apart" or "we kept running until the end" into the post-match conversation, nurturing an eye that values things beyond the result
- Create opportunities for players to think about "what kind of environment they want to play in" — Use a veteran's choice as material to have players articulate what role they want to take on, nurturing their capacity to choose for themselves
"We haven't won yet" and "we haven't fallen apart" are entirely different stories
There is a phrase that young players often say.
"We didn't win. So it meant nothing."
That feeling is natural, and the pursuit of victory is at the very heart of football.
But there is a fundamental difference between "not losing" and "not falling apart."
Málaga have not won, right now.
But they have not fallen apart either.
Whether one can sense that difference can sometimes be the dividing line for whether one moves on to the next stage.
If you were a coach, how would you convey this difference to your players?
If you were a parent, what words would you offer a child who is downcast after a match?
If you were the player yourself, what would you refuse to let go of during a stretch when things aren't going well?
What Aubameyang asks of us
For this season's Deportivo, the Gabonese forward is less an "answer" than a kind of living "question."
Each time he scores, the club's direction becomes a little clearer to see.
What kind of football does a newly promoted team want to play?
While relying on a veteran goal-getter, how will the younger players grow?
That is still a question without an answer.
In the next match, Deportivo will travel to face Real Madrid away.
On the same weekend, Málaga too will continue on the road.
The season has only just begun, and everyone is still "in the middle of it."
Why is a player with a career like Aubameyang's in this place, right now?
There may be no correct answer to that question.
But simply continuing to hold onto that question, unresolved, feels like an entry point to enjoying football on a deeper level.
The meaning of a journey is often something you only understand after you've arrived at your destination.
- Make it a habit to name one thing after the match that "held up best" — Even in a losing match, make it a habit to observe things like "at least that part held" or "that moment was good"
- Add "did we keep running" as an evaluation criterion, separate from winning or losing — Even in a drawn or lost match, talk together as parent and child about what was gained beyond points
- Share with your child "why did we choose this club or team" — Use a veteran's choice as a topic to open a conversation about football values, such as "what matters more than money"
I still sometimes recall, tucked away in a corner of my mind, my 22-year-old self who had to leave football behind after failing to make it as a professional. Back then, there was a real difference in feeling between matches where I sensed we "hadn't fallen apart" even after a poor result, and matches where that wasn't the case. The sense that we'd lost but still held something together never showed up in the score, yet it lingered quietly within my body.
The players you've watched haven't always been aware of this themselves. Still, I have a feeling that the memory of "not winning" and the memory of "not falling apart" come back with a different kind of weight after some years have passed. I'd like you to take a moment to imagine what that might be.
