Emerson Royal was spotted swapping shirts at half-time with Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz during the sides’ Premier League meeting on Sunday, a report from Football.London has revealed.
The Brazilian right-back, who joined Spurs from Barcelona in the summer, played his part as Nuno Espirito Santo’s men edged past the Villans with a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Emerson produced his best performance since moving to England against Dean Smith’s side, providing Spurs with a constant outlet on the right flank while remembering his defensive duties the other way.
At the halfway point in the fixture, Emerson was seen catching up with Villa midfielder and compatriot Luiz as they were both walking off to their respective dressing rooms.
However, he was spotted committing an act of unwritten football treason by swapping shirts at the break instead of at the final whistle.
Much has been made of this deed in the past after Eden Hazard and Angel di Maria did the same thing midway through a Champions League meeting between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain in 2016.
The gesture was quickly picked up on by Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane at the time, who labelled it as ‘shocking’ and slammed both players by questioning their mindset in such an important game.
Spurs Web Opinion
A lot has been made on players swapping shirts at half-time of matches, with many claiming that it should exclusively happen at the end of proceedings when the job has been done. On this occasion, it hasn’t really affected Emerson’s concentration on getting his task done.
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