According to Mike McGrath of the Telegraph, Bayer Leverkusen are interested in Serge Aurier and could make a move for the 27-year-old if they fail to land Hector Bellerin. Leverkusen are on the hunt for a right-back this summer and made £71m from selling Kai Havertz to Chelsea, so they should have enough money to meet our demands.
Doherty arrival spells the end for Aurier
Aurier’s future has been uncertain throughout the summer. He was coming off the back of a disappointing campaign and wanted out of Tottenham amid interest from AC Milan. We responded by signing Matt Doherty from Wolverhampton Wanderers and are likely to make him our first-choice right-back next season.
Aurier made 42 appearances, scoring two goals with eight assists, but he had defensive flaws that never abated. Only Moussa Sissoko gave away more fouls (44) than Aurier (41), and no defender in the squad was dribbled past more than the Ivorian international (30). His pass completion (79.1%) is worse than 16 players in the team too.
As for Doherty, the 28-year-old scored seven goals and made five assists in 50 games across the board last season. Only Conor Coady (201.2 minutes per foul), Ryan Bennett (151.5) and Ruben Neves (105.5) committed less fouls than Doherty (101.5). Only Coady (dribbled past once every 228 minutes) and Ruben Vinagre (215.3) were beaten by an opponent fewer times than Doherty (202.9) too. He’s clearly an improvement on Aurier.
Would Aurier join Leverkusen?
Uncertain. He was open to joining Milan when they were in talks over a deal, but things have since stalled. We’ve rejected an opening bid from the Rossoneri and aren’t willing to sell Aurier for less than what we paid £23m, so he may not get his move to Italy.
Leverkusen finished fifth in the Bundesliga last season, so they’re a formidable club in Germany. Aurier could do a lot worse. His £70k-per-week/£3.64m-a-year wages could be easily met too.
Summary
Selling Kyle Walker-Peters and putting Juan Foyth on the transfer list left us with only Aurier at right-back next season. Bringing in Doherty allows us to cash in on the 27-year-old, so we’re improving our squad in multiple areas and generating funds for new arrivals too. Selling Aurier is the right move.
In other news, Tottenham weigh up a bid for Kim Min-Jae as Lazio consider hijacking transfer