Graham Potter opens up on excluding Aubameyang from Champions league squad

English club Chelsea manager Graham Potter has opened up about not including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the UEFA Champions League squad. Graham Potter has said that it was not an easy decision to exclude Aubameyang from the Chelsea squad. The Chelsea striker was also left from the starting XI for the match against Fulham on Friday. 

Aubameyang was seen in Milan ahead of the Chelsea and Fulham match. The striker was seen spending time with his family after Chelsea gave him a weekend off. 

In a post match press conference after the match against Fulham. Potter said that it was his call to not include Aubameyang in the Champions League squad as they had to make a place for Joao Felix and the remaining two places were already occupied after the signing of  Enzo Fernandes and Mykhailo Mudryk.

Potter said: 'It was a tough decision'

"Pierre is a professional and, of course, I understand he will be disappointed. It was a tough decision, a tough call. We had three coming in and two had to go out. He was the one that missed out, he's done nothing wrong at all. We wanted to give David some game time today to see where he's at and to give him that opportunity. I think you saw that one flash that he's got. Pierre is just unfortunate and he will be fighting for his place for the rest of the season. He trained today, he trained very well and he's got the weekend off so we can report on Monday. It's a free world", said Potter. 

"Everything is up for grabs. He's got to keep working, train like he did today and be ready to play because football changes quickly. That's the nature of the game. Whichever decision we made there was always going to be a conversation about it but it was my decision. It was a tough decision absolutely, sometimes you have to make these calls but it's absolutely nothing bad against him. He's done nothing wrong at all", Potter added. 

Chelsea are not having a great Champions League season and are struggling. Chelsea currently sit at the ninth position in the table. 20 points less than the table leaders Arsenal.