Former Spurs star still baffled by club’s ‘strange’ summer transfer decision

Former Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson has criticised the way the club have handled their right-back situation and feels Serge Aurier is still the biggest weakness in the side.

Aurier has been extremely inconsistent since arriving in North London from PSG in the summer of 2017.

The 27-year-old has made several individual errors at the back that have led to goals and has received his fair share of criticism since arriving in England.

The Ivory Coast international’s fortunes have changed since the arrival of Jose Mourinho, as he has shone when employed in a more advanced role by the new Spurs head coach.

While he has notched up several assists to his name going forward, he has still made one or two rash errors defensively and Robinson believes it is an area that opposition teams are targetting.

The former Spurs number one was also extremely bemused by the club’s decision to let Kieran Trippier leave last summer and not sign a replacement for the England international.

Speaking to Stadium Astro, Robinson said: “I think there is a weakness at right-back. I think Aurier has been the problem for a lot of the goals that they have been conceding.

“Teams have targeted him. You saw what Bayern Munich did in the Champions League. The amount of joy they had down that side.

“The right-back area has puzzled me over the years for Spurs. They sold Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier. The Trippier to Atletico Madrid transfer was a strange one, in my opinion.

“They had Walker-Peters there and you are thinking ‘Walker-Peters is going to compete with Aurier’. Aurier hasn’t been playing well then Walker-Peters goes out on loan to Southampton.

“Then you are thinking Jose has got somebody lined up to come in. I think defensively they have problems. They need a left-back and they need a right-back. And maybe another centre-back.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I believe Robinson’s assessment is rather harsh on Aurier. While he does always seem to have a clumsy challenge in him, I actually believe he is very good in defending one vs one situations and in making interceptions. However, it is clear that we need to sign a young right-back like Max Aarons in the summer to compete with the Ivorian.

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