Sportskeeda Football Awards 2016: Forward of the Year

#7 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Reader’s Rank: 6, Sportskeeda’s Rank: 10)

Can he make it into the top 5 next year?

Aubameyang has set the Bundesliga on fire ever since switching from Saint Etienne to Borussia Dortmund. The lightning-quick striker took the goal-scoring burden upon himself in the absence of Marco Reus – who had an unfortunate year with a lot of injuries preventing him from having the impact he is capable of.

The Gabonese international racked up an incredible 33 goals and 10 assists in the calendar year for club and country, while helping the Signal Iduna Park outfit finish second in the Bundesliga – although Thomas Tuchel’s charges failed to usurp the magical Bayern Munich.

With 16 goals to his name, Aubameyang is currently leading Bundesliga goalscoring charts and a big-money move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs is surely around the corner, which will help him add trophies to his tally, which for now, just features goals and assists. Although, he might opt to stay at Dortmund and help Tuchel put an end to Bayern Munich’s domination in Germany. Expect Aubameyang to finish higher up next year, unless something untoward happens.

Lothar Matthaus – arguably one of the greatest ever midfielders to grace the game – has been full of praise for the Dortmund hitman and has gone as far as to say that he would cost around €150m in today’s market.

“If a player like Pogba costs €105million, Dortmund would have to get €150m for Aubameyang. He is a player who makes the difference. Pogba does not.” ~ Lothar Matthaus

2016 Stats (for club and country – Games: 49, Goals: 33, Assists: 10)