New Tottenham full back Serge Aurier needs to grow up and cut out the misdemeanors that have dogged much of his career to date if he is to be succesful in the Premier League, according to an article in The Mirror
That is certainly the view of two Ivory Coast and Premier League veterans who have spoken up on his behalf after the defenders controversial past was dragged up before he joined Tottenham.
It didn’t take long for the Ivorian to find himself on the wrong side of the law on the pitch, when he was sent off on his debut in the London derby against West Ham.
It added to a list of controversies that involved labelling former PSG coach Laurent Blanc ‘a faggot’, assaulting a police officer and calling a referee a ‘dirty son of a bitch’.
However former Chelsea forward Didier Drogba and ex Manchester City centre back Kolo Toure have tried to explain his excesses but they do admit their International colleague will have to change some things if he is indeed to be successful in the Premier League.
Drogba said: “Serge Aurier maybe has to make those mistakes to really understand and realise what he represents.
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“He’s a good person, he’s loyal, he wants to succeed. His problem is away from the pitch – he’s always given everything on the pitch.
Celtic’s Kolo Toure said of Aurier: “It’s a lack of maturity, quite simply.
“I think he must feel very bad about it. But he got carried away and didn’t realise the consequences.
“Serge is a really good guy, ask his team-mates. He’s young. We’ve all been like that. We’ve all been through that stage when we’re young, playing the hard guy.”
Former Monaco and Marseille defender Eric Di Meco also defended him, saying: “I think there’s humour in it. Aurier’s messing about with his friends and you can’t spend all year regretting a player’s loose talk.”
However others have not been so forgiving of Aurier. When Serge was named captain of Ivory Coast in July, his Ivorian team-mate Ousmane Viera lashed out at him.
Viera said: “Serge Aurier isn’t an example. There are other players more exemplary than him. It’s not logical to give him the armband. With his indiscretions, he doesn’t reflect the image that the national team wants to convey. For me, it’s inconceivable.”
That said,Aurier has been invariably successful on the pitch for his country. Just last December he was voted Ivorian player of the year with 39.5% of the public vote, over twice as many as Manchester United’s Eric Bailly.
So what do we think of Aurier and his “Bad Boy” image? We have seen flashes of brilliance from him and of course there was that sending off for that clumsy challenge at West Ham. Kieran Trippier has been in decent form too,so Aurier has made life difficult for himself early on and may struggle to get back in the team. Can he curb or at least control it? Time will of course tell as it always does. Let us have your thoughts on Serge.
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