Euro giant rejected two Tottenham players as part of summer deal
A trusted source has revealed that Barcelona rejected two Tottenham stars as part of the deal for Emerson Royal.
The Brazilian right-back, 22, joined Tottenham on transfer deadline day for a reported €25m. He penned a five-year deal with the club, rumoured to be worth £2.1m per year.
Emerson made his Tottenham debut in the 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday. He was involved in an intriguing battle with Wilfried Zaha, although the Ivory Coast international ultimately came out on top.
Zaha opened the scoring from the penalty spot before debutant Odsonne Edouard stole the headlines with a late double.
Fabrizio Romano has now revealed more detail about Emerson’s move from Barcelona, as well as which Tottenham players they rejected.
He writes that Tottenham have agreed to pay €25m outright for the defender, with no add-ons. This represents a slight discount as Spurs were rumoured to have bid €30m in the days before August 31.
The transfer guru goes on to claim that Tanguy Ndombele and Serge Aurier were offered as part of the deal, although Barca chiefs decided not to include them.
Ndombele joined the Premier League side two years ago for a £53.8m fee. However, he has never really lived up to expectations and is yet to feature this season.
He could yet find his way back into the team under Nuno Espirito Santo, although it will be a long road to justify his large price tag.
Aurier, meanwhile, joined Spurs from Paris Saint-Germain in August 2017. He went on to make 110 appearances in all competitions but had his contract terminated on deadline day.
Clearly, Barca were not impressed by Aurier’s performances in a Spurs shirt. He fell behind Japhet Tanganga and Matt Doherty in the pecking order towards the start of the new campaign.
When departing the club, Aurier said: “I have really enjoyed my time at Spurs and would like to thank the club and the fans, but I feel now is the right time for me to move onto a new challenge.”
Nuno reacts to Tottenham defeat
Nuno says his side ‘failed to improve’ in the second half on a disappointing day at Selhurst Park.
He told reporters after the 3-0 loss: “We just look at the game. We had a lot of obstacles to overcome. I think we were in control of the game in the first half. We didn’t create much, but we didn’t allow too much.
“We spoke at half-time and the perspective was to improve, but it didn’t happen.”
Asked why he did not make any changes, the Spurs boss said: “They didn’t come on because I didn’t decide to bring them on. It was the right moment to make a sub but then we went down to 10 men so we needed to balance the team.”
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