Nottingham Forest are close to the signing of Serge Aurier with the player undergoing a medical at the City Ground today.
According to the Daily Mail, the Reds are close to completing the signing of a player who left Villarreal earlier this summer.
The former Tottenham man helped the La Liga outfit reach the semi-final of the Champions League last season and is a reliable performer.
Last season, Aurier didn’t manage much game time. He played 24 times in all competitions and was largely viewed as a backup for Juan Foyth.
Now, he’s a free agent and Forest could snap him up without the inconvenience of a transfer fee.
Furthermore, it’s likely that the Reds will only hand him a short-term deal as a backup to Neco Williams.
Aurier is a born winner and during his time at PSG he enjoyed a trophy-laden period.
He then moved to Tottenham and perhaps he wasn’t quite such a big success there.
Aurier made 110 appearances for Spurs and helped them reach the Champions League final during 2018/19.
He was on the bench as Mauricio Pochettino’s men lost 2-0 to Liverpool in the final but he made five appearances in the competition that year.
During his time at Tottenham, Jose Mourinho heaped praise on Aurier, calling him ‘special’.
Forest close to Aurier signing
This looks like a pretty decent signing on paper, although it’s easy to see why some fans will be uncertain.
He was often clumsy when he played for Tottenham and did give a few needless penalties away during his time at the club.
Furthermore, he’s likely to be handed a pretty sizeable wage and perhaps Forest could have scoured the market for cheaper.
Still, there are some positives. He’s played in the Premier League before and as a free transfer, it might not be the worst deal in the world.
Forest have Williams as their number one choice and Aurier in reserve would make for some useful competition for the squad.
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