It wasn’t a happy return to England for former Tottenham Hotspur defender Serge Aurier this week.
The Ivory Coast started Tuesday night’s friendly with England at Wembley.
However, the former Paris Saint-Germain defender, who left Tottenham last summer, picked up a first-half red card.
It was two yellow cards which resulted in the erratic right-back heading down the tunnel.
Yes it was a friendly but, really, Aurier is capable of being sent off in any game, no matter the importance.
That view was echoed by Tottenham legend Jonathan Woodgate, who told BBC Radio 5 Live that Aurier’s dismissal reminded him of his time in North London:
He said: “The sending off was more to do with dissent and when he was at Spurs you could never rely on him. He always had that in him. Anything can happen with Serge Aurier.”
Paratici was right
Paratici made a number of questionable decisions last summer at Tottenham.
Firstly, he hired Nuno Espirito Santo, who was fired about four months later after clearly discovering that the Spurs job was a bit too big for him.
The Italian also had a hit-and-miss record in terms of transfers, with Emerson Royal and Pierluigi Gollini not convincing Antonio Conte – Nuno’s successor – as of yet.
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However, Paratici was right to get shot of Aurier.
The 29-year-old was into the final year of his contract in North London when Paratici released him [Sky Sports] and even though Emerson has struggled, and Matt Doherty has been inconsistent, both are better options at right-back than Aurier.
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