Spurs Would Be Silly to Let Serge Aurier Leave in the Summer Transfer Window

Impulsive, impetuous, reckless, rash, careless. Those are just a few of the adjectives which define Tottenham's Serge Aurier. 

From double yellow card displays to needless penalty giveaways (this isn't a poem, by the way), the Ivorian has cut a divisive figure - and that's probably a compliment - among the Lilywhite faithful since he arrived from Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 as Kyle Walker's replacement. 

Serge Aurier

But despite stellar European displays against ​Borussia Dortmund and ​Real Madrid in his maiden campaign, ​Aurier just wasn't a Mauricio Pochettino player. And after two years of inconsistency as Kieran Trippier's back-up at right-back - which would've been rather frustrating given the Englishman's poor 2018/19 campaign - he admitted he was eager to leave the club following their defeat in the ​Champions League final to ​Liverpool.

But following Trippier's switch to Atletico in the summer, Aurier had a change of heart and decided to stay - trusting himself to pip a stagnating Kyle Walker-Peters to become Pochettino's first choice right-back this term.

Which he did, and it's fair to say the Ivorian has enjoyed his finest campaign in north London under both Pochettino and Jose Mourinho, playing over 73% of Spurs' total minutes this season, which is significantly up from 16.5% last year.

What's helped him thrive is that, especially under Mourinho, he hasn't actually been forced to do much defending, specifically around his own box. 

Mourinho has generally deployed a modern 3-2-5 attacking build-up since he took over in north London in mid-November, with Aurier acting as Spurs' fifth attacking outlet down the right flank. This meant that whoever was playing on the right side of the attacking midfield triumvirate behind​ Harry Kane - before his injury - would tuck inside into an inside forward position, allowing the Ivorian greater space to overlap.

Serge Aurier

The greater responsibility placed on Aurier by Mourinho as essentially a winger has seen his attacking output improve dramatically. Nine of his 19 goal contributions in a Spurs shirt have come this season - including seven assists in all competitions, five of which have come under the Portuguese coach.


His most recent contribution was a brilliantly taken left-footed effort from just outside the area which beat Rui Patricio in Spurs' 3-2 home defeat against Wolves, which despite being played in March feels like it was a fixture from the 2014/15 season. 

Moments like the Wolves strike, along with the sumptuous 'sidewinder' against Olympiacos and the pinpoint cross for Kane away at West Ham show Aurier does possess some sort of talent. It should also be noted that in the Premier League this season, no Spurs player has made more tackles per game (3.1) or successful crosses (0.7) than the 27-year-old this season, while he ranks behind only ​Son Heung-min (among players with 500+ minutes) when it comes to key passes (1.2).

It's his moments of outright madness, however, which mean he's not exactly seen as a fan-favourite on the lilywhite side of north London. 

Serge Aurier

In his 'best' season to date, we've seen Aurier earn two first-half yellow cards to get himself sent off against Southampton, allow Serge Gnabry to wreak havoc in that 7-2 defeat to ​Bayern Munich with some truly shambolic positioning, bag a comical own goal at Carrow Road and deliver the most Serge Aurier challenge ever when he needlessly tripped Sergio Aguero up inside the area in the frantic February fixture against Manchester C​ity.

It's just not a great sign if you're generally giving over 60,000 people heart-attacks every time you come within 18-yards of your own goal. 

From a technical point of view, critics would say Aurier has underperformed going forward this season given the amount of attacking freedom he's been granted. His 25% success rate from crosses this season highlight he's not actually a very good crosser of the ball. 

Aurier has generally had more success delivering first-time as opposed to being on the move - a more common situation - with his deliveries into the box often being met with a chorus of groans as they regularly find their way into the goalkeeper's welcoming gloves.

And he was recently quoted by Goal as saying it's his dream to finish his career at PSG. These comments, along with his continued mishaps despite a much-improved campaign overall, mean it's inevitable Spurs fans will jump down the throat of Aurier, likely demanding his sale. Many were already desperate to see their number 24 out of the door, but it wouldn't be the smartest idea to let the Ivorian leave anytime soon.

First things first, however, it's obvious Spurs are in dire need of a new right-back. For a club of Spurs' 'ambitions', Aurier shouldn't be the undisputed first-choice which he is at the moment. An out-of-position Japhet Tanganga shouldn't be the next option either.

FBL-EUR-C1-LEIPZIG-TOTTENHAM

​Norwich's Max Aarons, Nice's Youcef Atal and RB Leipzig's Nordi Mukiele are the sort of profiles Daniel Levy and co should be targeting to potentially displace Aurier. 

But despite his issues, or just being a 'calamity prone maniac' as he was neatly summarised online, Aurier deserves a chance to battle it out with any new arrival. At the end of the day, he's a big character in the dressing room and has forged close bonds with Frenchmen Moussa Sissoko and Tanguy Ndombele. Teenager Oliver Skipp described Aurier as 'one of the jokers' in the Spurs squad, and amid uncertain times for the Lilywhites, it might not be the best of times to lose such a strong personality. 

However, when Spurs hopefully add a new right-back to their ranks, Mourinho will have the tricky task of striking the right balance of integrating the new arrival as well as keeping the peace with Aurier to maintain typically beneficial competition for the starting spot.

Serge Aurier,Jose Mourinho

He won't ever be perfect, he'll likely cost you a couple of points a season, but he's nowhere near as bad as he's made out to be. Aurier's shown tremendous improvement this term and deserves a shot to fight for his job when the opportunity arises next season.


Source : 90min