Arsenal have reportedly been offered a chance to sign defender Serge Aurier on a free transfer following his contract termination at Tottenham.
According to transfer expert Ekrem Konur, former Tottenham Hotspur right-back Serge Aurier has allegedly been offered to Arsenal. Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has granted his approval for the club to begin talks to bring the Ivorian to the Emirates, completing a controversial North London switch.
The Ivory Coast international’s four-year stay with Spurs ended after Tottenham decided to rip up his contract by mutual consent on the deadline day after they failed to secure him a summer move away from the North London club.
In an ideal world, Spurs did want a transfer fee for the former PSG man; the deal still had one year left on it but the fact that they are unwilling to wait until the Winter window in their search to find a suitor speaks volumes of their perception about the player and desperation to get rid of him.
The arrival of Emerson Royal sent Aurier further down the pecking order behind Tanganga, Matt Doherty and now the new signing Emerson. The 28-year-old was not in the plans of the new head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, who earlier expressed his desire to work with a small core group of players.
Tottenham signed Aurier from PSG back in 2017 in a deal worth £23 million. He made 110 appearances for the Lilywhites in all competitions, scoring eight goals and assisting 17 others. Last year, he played in only 19 of 38 Premier League matches. Spurs fans slacked him for his erroneous defending, lack of consistency, poor concentration and awareness on the pitch throughout his tenure.
Although the transfer window has slammed shut, Premier League teams can still sign free agents anytime they want, as long as they have space in their existing rosters. Aurier is an appealing name on the list of free agents available right now. It’s believed that he has offers from several French, Turkish and Qatari clubs, but it’s reasonable for him to stay in North London and join the rivals instead.
Aurier is deemed as a capable attacking wing-back. He played some of his best football at Toulouse, where he was deployed as a wing-back. The Gunners have, at times, used a back-five system under Arteta, which could certainly suit Aurier, but the question arises do Arsenal need another full-back, having just signed Takehiro Tomiyasu on the transfer deadline day, who is primarily a right-back.
It is great to have backup options available at your disposal, but not too many. Both Cedric Soares and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who the Gunners boss has given reassurances of more playing time, are waiting in the background for their chance.
It will also cause unnecessary unrest amongst the fans, too as they won’t like the idea of signing unwanted goods from their bitter rivals. In our view, the Gunners should stay away from this move.
