Emerson Royal has opened up on the circumstances behind his move to Tottenham Hotspur and has admitted that Arsenal also showed interest in him this summer.
Tottenham announced on transfer deadline day that they had reached an agreement with Barcelona for the transfer of Emerson Royal for a fee of £25.8m.
Reports indicated at the time that Emerson initially wished to stay at the Camp Nou and fight for his place in the starting eleven but chose to join Spurs after holding positive conversations with Fabio Paratici and Nuno Espirito Santo.
Tottenham also allegedly offered both Tanguy Ndombele and Serge Aurier to Barca as part of the Emerson deal but the Catalan club are thought to have rejected the chance to sign both players.
The right-back has now admitted that he was keen to prove himself at Barcelona but the Spanish club had made it clear to him that he was not wanted.
Emerson told ESPN Brasil (as translated by Sport Witness): “My departure from Barcelona was kind of… I was taken by surprise.
“Because I had a dream to play for Barcelona. As I’ve always said, I don’t ever deny it. I had the dream of playing for Barcelona and when I’m presented, the board deposits a very big chip on me.
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“They say good things. The president talked about me, he talked about my personal things, that he knew everything about my life, he knew how I played, my characteristics and everything.
“I was even surprised by this desire that Barcelona had to count on me. Suddenly I was shocked that Barcelona didn’t count on me.
“Only, of course, I made it very clear when I talked to the directors. I said ‘Look, I don’t want to be in a place where I’m not happy and not wanted. I want to go to a place where people want me to be there’.
“And I saw this wish from Tottenham. I even talked to the director, he called me and all. And I saw this club’s desire to have me here. I said ‘I’m going’.”
The 22-year-old also revealed that Tottenham’s North London rivals, Arsenal, wanted him and even admitted to speaking with the Gunners’ technical director, Edu Gaspar.
He added: “I actually had a conversation with Edu. I did talk to Edu in the same week. And we talked, he showed me the desire of the club and such. And, of course, I needed Barcelona, I couldn’t settle anything with anyone, Barcelona had to deal club to club.
“And that’s where Barcelona went and found deal with Tottenham. I also got to talk to Tottenham, at first I didn’t have any verbal agreement with anyone. And that’s when Barcelona told me that they had made an agreement with Tottenham.
“I listened to the proposal, for me it was a good proposal, not only financial, for me that’s what counts least, but it had a very good career project for me. So this is why I chose to come to Tottenham.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Emerson has not had the best of starts to his Spurs career but it was always going to take the 22-year-old time to get used to playing with his new teammates and adjust to the demands of the Premier League. Emerson certainly has age on his side and he could well evolve into a top full-back in time.
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