MADRID: Tottenham right-back Serge Aurier says he is happy at the Premier League club, despite being prevented from leaving in the transfer window.
The Ivory Coast international said last week that he would have liked to have moved on from Spurs but instead made his first appearance of the season and was involved in the build-up for two of the goals in the 4-0 romp over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Aurier, who had last played in the Premier League in February, has had a difficult time at the club following his 2017 move and said he wanted to leave due to a “personal situation”.
The 26-year-old said there was no rift with boss Mauricio Pochettino and is now looking to the future.
Asked if he had wanted to leave, Aurier said: “Yes, but that was the situation before the transfer window closed. The transfer window is now closed. Now I am calm and happy to stay.
“I speak with everyone. I don’t want to leave. I had something in my head, but I didn’t want to leave for the gaffer or the chairman (Daniel Levy).
“It was my personal situation and now it is OK. Everyone wants to give me another chance and now I am happy to stay and happy to play and happy for the victory.”
Aurier is hoping to be involved as Spurs begin their Champions League campaign this week with a trip to Greek side Olympiakos.
Despite getting to the final last season, where they lost to Liverpool, defender Jan Vertonghen said they were still outsiders.
“We want to go as far as we did last year,” he said. ‘We’ve got a nice group. Good games, nice challenges, teams we haven’t played against yet.
“Like 15 or 20 teams feel like they belong there, so we’ve got a big challenge. But we had a great run last year and we want to repeat it.
“We’ve earned their respect now. Teams treat us differently than a couple of years ago. But they will look at us as an outsider.”
