Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Darren Bent has praised Jose Mourinho for getting the best out of Serge Aurier after his recent stunning display.
The Ivory Coast captain produced an eye-catching performance in Spurs’ 6-1 hammering of Manchester United in their last Premier League outing before the international break.
The encounter was Aurier’s first league start of the season, and he returned a goal and an assist in the emphatic victory at Old Trafford.
He was reportedly linked with moves to AC Milan and Spartak Moscow this summer, following the arrival of right-back Matt Doherty from Wolverhampton Wanderers but he is gradually coming back into contention for selection.
Bent, who criticised the 27-year-old defender several times last season, was impressed by his positional improvement in the attack and defence.
“I spoke about it last season so many times about how many goals he costs Spurs with his positional sense,” Bent told Football Insider.
“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.”
Aurier is in contention to make a second Premier League appearance of the season against West Ham United on Sunday after returning from international duty with Ivory Coast.
He led the Elephants to a 1-1 draw against Belgium last Thursday but they bowed to a 1-0 loss against Japan on Tuesday.