Real Madrid Transfer News: Latest Rumours on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Option

Real Madrid have struck a deal with Borussia Dortmund that will give Los Blancos a first option on three of BVB's most exciting players. Youngsters Julian Weigl and Ousmane Dembele are part of the group, as well as star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

That's according to Marca's Jose Felix Diaz (via Padraig Whelan), who reported BVB have agreed to inform Real whenever an offer for one of the three arrives.

It's stated the two clubs already had a similar pact in place previously, with Ilkay Gundogan's summer move to Manchester City an example:

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The friendship that exists between Florentino Perez and Reinhard Rauball is a key contributor to this agreement, which has been in evidence in previous summer transfer windows.

For example, last summer, Borussia Dortmund informed Real's hierarchy that Manchester City were very keen on bringing Ilkay Gundogan to the Etihad Stadium, having been aware that the Spanish side had been interested in the midfielder in the past.

After Real Madrid informed the Westfalenstadion club that they had no intention of tabling an offer of their own for the Germany international, he made the move to Pep Guardiola's side.

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While Weigl has emerged as one of the top young midfielders in Europe in the last two seasons and Dembele has tremendous potential as a striker, Aubameyang is undoubtedly the big star of the group.

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The Gabon international hasn't made a secret of his desire to play for Los Blancos, dropping hints seemingly every couple of months and reminding everyone he made a promise to his grandfather that one day he would join Real, per Felix Diaz.

Aubameyang has already scored 15 goals in the Bundesliga this season and has been among the league's top scorers for years. He moved to the Signal Iduna Park in 2013 after he failed to break through at AC Milan and had a great run with Saint Etienne, who used him more as a striker as opposed to a winger.

Here's a look at some of his highlights:

Blessed with remarkable speed and athletic ability, Aubameyang is a nightmare to defend in the open space. He's a natural finisher who likes to dive into the box and can win the aerial battle, but he's at his best when he can run on the counter-attack and pull defenders out of position.

For years, that has been Real's strong suit as well, and an attack featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Aubameyang could be devastating. While Aubameyang may not be as good at linking up play as Karim Benzema, he's a far bigger threat in the open space, and his running would free up Ronaldo and Bale even more.

Aubameyang is expected to join Real at some point in the future, with Los Blancos forced to wait until their transfer ban expires before they can register him anyway.

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The supposed option is an odd one, however. Clubs usually obtain options on talented players from smaller clubs when they buy a different player or give something in return―an example being Barcelona's option on Gabriel Barbosa after the Neymar purchase from Santos, per Joaquim Piera of Sport.

There's no mention in the report of any fee or players exchanging hands, and in all likelihood, Real just made sure BVB promised to call if anyone had any interest in their players―something they would surely do anyhow to drum up competition and drive up the price.

An actual first option, where Real could match any bid, would make no sense for BVB, who would have whichever interested club pay as much as possible for their stars.