Real Madrid will rival Paris Saint-Germain to sign Tottenham defender Serge Aurier this summer, according to reports in France.
Last month, we relayed a story from French outlet Le Parisien claiming Mauricio Pochettino wants to take Aurier back to PSG.
And now another French publication, Foot Mercato, is suggesting Aurier could have a choice between PSG and Real Madrid in the coming months.
The report says Spurs will let the Ivory Coast international leave for just €12 million, which is far less than they signed him for.
Aurier only has a year left on his current contract, so that’s probably why Tottenham are said to be asking for such a small amount of money.
It seems absurd that Aurier could be playing Champions League football for an elite club next season when he has been generally disappointing in a Spurs shirt for some time.
This season has arguably been his best campaign since joining the club, but he certainly hasn’t done enough to be attracting the likes of PSG and Real Madrid.
Whether people love or hate him, Aurier has been playing at a level this season that makes him very hard to replace. Take emotion or bias out of it and that is the simple reality of it. Yes he has the odd moment of madness – leicester being a case in point, but as doherty (one of last seasons better right backs) showed, aurier is playing at a higher level and is hard to displace. You bring virtually any right backs in the league barring walker, wan bissaka and maybe trent or reese james, and aurier would keep them out of the side. Thats the player that fans are cheering to be rid of.
Fullbacks take time and we have put so much time and patience to get aurier to where he is now, whomever we sign will be like aurier of 2 or 3 years ago and we need stability.
Our signings should be
A) Matheus Pereira – we badly need a playmaker
B) Maxence Lacroix – been awesome at centreback for wolfsburg, left sided, left footed
C) Yves Bissouma – A physical sound passing box to box mid who can move with the ball and can be developed defensively.
D) try to re sign Vertonghen – hes 34 but still has years in the tank and his experience is vital
We dont want to sign more than 3 or 4 players or it will destabilize us too much and replacing Aurier is an unecessary crisis we dont need.