Mourinho is getting the best out of Aurier, says Bent

Lewis Oldham
Tottenham Mourinho

Jose Mourinho deserves credit for getting the “right tune” out of Serge Aurier, says former player Darren Bent.

Aurier joined Tottenham for around £23m from PSG in August 2017. He has spent just over three seasons with Spurs and in that time he has featured in 89 games in all competitions.

Most of his appearances came during the 2019/20 campaign. The 27-year-old made 42 appearances for Spurs in all competitions, with most of them coming under Mourinho.


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Despite this, the defender has received a lot of criticism during his time at the club. Fans and pundits have often questioned his defensive ability.

Tottenham signed Matt Doherty from Wolves earlier this window for around £15m. The Irishman appeared to be coming in as Mourinho’s new first choice right back.

But this added competition appears to have pushed Aurier, as he has made a solid start to the new season.

He has made four appearances for Spurs so far this campaign. The right-back also started and scored as Tottenham beat Man Utd 6-1 at Old Trafford.

Bent – who played for Spurs between 2007 and 2009 – told Football Insider that Mourinho and Aurier deserve praise for his recent upturn in form:

“I spoke about it last season so many times about how many goals he costs Spurs with his positional sense.

“He’s come back this season and to be fair I think he’s done alright, he’s done OK. He’s scored a couple of goals, he’s been quite solid.

“We know that he’s got all the attributes. I thought against United he was very good, he defended well, got forward and got a good goal.

“Mourinho for whatever reason is getting the right tune out of some of these players that maybe we thought weren’t good enough.

“He’s gone ‘you know what, I quite like them, they fit into my system very, very well’.

“So you’ve got to take your hat off to Mourinho, Serge Aurier has been doing very, very well and was superb against United.”