Villarreal right-back Serge Aurier is in the UEFA Champions League final with The Yellow Submarine, who will be taking on Liverpool, but with the defender in England, the 29-year-old rehashed his time with Tottenham Hotspur.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Aurier spoke about what went wrong in north London during the tenure of José Mourinho, who now manages at AS Roma, and the issues he had with his former assistant João Sacramento.
Aurier states that Sacrament didn’t have a positive relationship with anyone in the Tottenham dressing room during his stint under Mourinho. The veteran defender adds the assistant lacked empathy for the person behind the player.
“Sometimes players need more love and attention. I’m not speaking for José; I’m speaking for his assistant. João is a badass, and he didn’t have a good relationship with the dressing room; that’s why everything went downhill. There was a lack of good communication. It was one of his first experiences in a first-team, and he lacked calm with the players,” Aurier said.
“He needed to care more about the person behind the player. Sometimes when you’re not playing, a lot goes through your head, and you need someone to calm you down and help you, to give you good vibes, not send you negative messages. And I think it all started there.”
Mourinho was sacked in April 2021; meanwhile, Aurier also departed a year ago when he and Tottenham agreed to terminate the final year of his contract, resulting in him signing with the La Liga side last October.
Spurs hired Nuno Espírito Santo to be Mourinho’s permanent replacement, but that didn’t last long, and the north London club appointed Antonio Conte as the manager in November.