According to Todofichajes, Tottenham are close to agreeing a deal with AC Milan that will see Serge Aurier move to the San Siro. The 27-year-old is surplus to requirements in North London, but Daniel Levy was initially unwilling to lower his asking price.
Todofichajes say we’ll now accept less than €20m (£18m) to ensure Aurier moves on this summer. Milan can land his signature for €15m (£13.5m) and that money will be put towards signing a replacement.
Tottenham and Aurier both want shot of each other
Aurier is open to joining Milan and it appears we’re happy to oblige. The 27-year-old was a regular last season but Jose Mourinho is now willing to let him go.
Aurier isn’t the only right-back we’re looking to offload either – Kyle Walker-Peters joined Southampton and Juan Foyth is available for sale – so signing at least one new right-back is on the agenda.
We’ve been linked with Ainsley Maitland-Niles of Arsenal, Max Aarons of Norwich City, Zeki Celik of LOSC Lille, Youcef Atal of OGC Nice and Achraf Hakimi of Real Madrid, but it remains to be seen who we’ll end up with.
Personally, I feel Leicester City’s Ricardo Pereira would be the pick of the bunch.
How much will we save from Aurier’s sale?
If we sell the Ivorian international for €15m, we’ll make back £13.5m and save £70k-per-week/£3.64m-a-year in wages. Aurier has two years remaining on his deal, so his departure will earn us £20.8m. It’s still short of the £23.8m we spent to bring him from Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, but it’s not bad.
With the Covid-19 pandemic causing our revenue to fall, we need to scrape together every penny that we can. Danny Rose, Aurier, Foyth and Cameron Carter-Vickers are expected to be sold to generate funds for new arrivals, so needs must.
Aurier has made 83 appearances in all competitions and did impress at times in a Tottenham shirt, but he’s guilty of making mistakes and couldn’t maintain good form over the long-term. We paid the price for not replacing Kieran Tripper last summer, so we must ensure that a right-back is lined up if/when Aurier leaves.
In other news, Tottenham confirmed their second summer signing as two midfielders have left