Serge Aurier reveals Barcelona negotiations

by Graeme Jackson

Tuesday Nov 07, 2017. 14:00

Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier has revealed that he was in negotiations to join Barcelona this season, and believes his reputation as a ‘bad boy’ has preceded him.

In his time at Paris Saint-Germain, the Elephants right-back was famously frozen out for a period of time after he insulted coach Laurent Blanc and teammates, while he also received a suspended jail sentence for assaulting a police officer.

Nonetheless, Aurier made a big-money move to Tottenham Hotspur a couple of months ago and is beginning to settle into life in North London.

“I think my reputation made four or five big European sides afraid," Aurier told Canal Plus.

"I was negotiating with Barcelona, very advanced negotiations. And Barcelona's people were not sure if I came here things would be different."

Yet the 24-year-old believes he made a wise decision in signing for Tottenham.

"It was the right choice [to leave]," he added. "After a while, I did not feel comfortable with the media.

"For me, it was never going to end. After a while, I felt like a prisoner, with a camera on my back.

"By staying in France, I would have never washed this image."