Aubameyang Powers Deportivo’s Dream La Liga Return With Record Start
GOATIFYPierre-Emerick Aubameyang is 37, Deportivo La Coruña are back in La Liga after eight years away, and neither fact has made the veteran striker look remotely interested in easing into the season.
Deportivo’s return to Spain’s top flight has quickly become one of the league’s most entertaining early stories. A summer rebuild brought experienced names and ambitious young talent to A Coruña, but Aubameyang has supplied the headline moments. His latest was a decisive late goal in a 3-2 win at Villarreal, completing another match in which his movement, speed and decision-making made him look far younger than his birth certificate suggests.
The result kept Deportivo unbeaten and pushed them into the early top-five conversation. More importantly, it reinforced the idea that this is not a promoted side simply hoping to survive. Deportivo have spent aggressively, recruited players with championship experience and built an attack capable of causing problems for established La Liga clubs.
Aubameyang Has Turned Deportivo's Return Into a Personal Record Chase
Aubameyang’s start has been unusually clean: four league games, four matches with a goal. That is already a Deportivo record for a player beginning a top-flight spell, moving him beyond the three-game scoring run Bebeto produced when he arrived in 1992.
The Villarreal winner was the most dramatic of the sequence. Deportivo had already seen the game swing repeatedly, and Aubameyang had contributed creatively before getting the final say himself. Late in the match he still had enough acceleration to burst forward from deep, arrive in the decisive area and finish the move that made it 3-2.
That moment fits the wider pattern. He has not been functioning as a penalty-box passenger waiting for service. Deportivo have used his experience to connect attacks, stretch back lines and create space for younger forwards. His early run has included goals and assists against Elche, Málaga, Valencia and Villarreal, giving Antonio Hidalgo a reliable reference point while the rest of the rebuilt team settles.
For a club that spent eight years outside La Liga, having a striker with Aubameyang’s résumé changes the psychology of matches. Defenders know he has punished Champions League and elite domestic opponents for years. He may no longer have the relentless top-end pace of his Dortmund peak, but his timing and understanding of space remain elite tools.
Deportivo Built a Squad to Do More Than Fight Relegation
Aubameyang is the star attraction, but Deportivo’s ambitions are visible across the squad. The club invested roughly €26 million in new players, a spending level surpassed by only a handful of Spain’s biggest teams during the window.
José María Giménez arrived from Atlético Madrid and Marc Casadó came from Barcelona on loan, adding players accustomed to high-pressure title environments. Adama Traoré joined as a free agent after speaking with Aubameyang about the project. The winger’s first appearance was chaotic, including an own goal, but the broader point was obvious: Deportivo are recruiting footballers who expect to compete, not merely endure.
The squad also contains continuity from the climb back. Lucas Pérez played a central role in helping the club escape the third tier, while younger attackers such as Bil Nsongo and Zakaria Eddahchouri give Hidalgo options around Aubameyang. The mixture of veterans and developing talent is deliberate. Deportivo want enough experience to manage difficult away games without sacrificing the athleticism required for a full top-flight season.
That makes the early unbeaten run more meaningful than a novelty. Promoted teams often spend the opening weeks discovering where the speed and physicality of the division can expose them. Deportivo have instead looked prepared to attack established opponents and absorb the consequences when games become open.
Super Dépor Is Back, but the Real Test Is Sustaining the Start
The temptation around A Coruña is obvious. Deportivo were champions of Spain in 2000 and became one of Europe’s most recognizable clubs in the years that followed. Long seasons in the lower divisions made that history feel increasingly distant. Returning to La Liga with a recognizable star scoring every week inevitably brings the old “Super Dépor” language back.
Hidalgo has good reason to resist getting carried away. Four matches are not enough to define a season, and the table will become more demanding as injuries, suspensions and fixture congestion arrive. Barcelona have started strongly, Real Madrid remain loaded with talent, and the established European contenders will not treat Deportivo as an unknown quantity for long.
Still, survival no longer looks like the only sensible target. Deportivo have enough attacking talent to punish mistakes, enough veteran leadership to survive difficult stretches and enough investment behind the project to expect a competitive season.
Aubameyang is the clearest symbol of that confidence. He could have treated the move as a late-career stop. Instead he has arrived sprinting, creating and scoring, giving a newly promoted club the swagger of a team that remembers exactly what it once was.
There is another layer to the story: Aubameyang’s role is not only measured in goals. Deportivo’s staff have leaned on him as a reference for younger players, and his training standards matter inside a squad that has changed substantially in one summer. A promoted team can add names, but turning a collection of signings into a functioning La Liga side requires habits. The striker’s willingness to press, combine and keep making runs late in games gives the project credibility beyond his reputation.
The schedule will eventually test the depth behind him. At 37, managing minutes across a long season will be part of the equation, and Deportivo cannot expect one player to decide every tight match. Yet the early evidence suggests the surrounding attack is capable of sharing the load. Nsongo’s movement, Eddahchouri’s presence and Traoré’s direct running can all create different problems, while Casadó gives the midfield more control when games become stretched.
If the veteran keeps finding the net and Deportivo’s new pieces continue to settle, the return to La Liga could become much more than a nostalgic season. The first month has already made one thing clear: A Coruña is back on the map, and opponents cannot assume the promoted side will behave like one.
