Ivorian right-back Serge Aurier has joined Tottenham Hotspur from Paris Saint-Germain on a five-year contract, the two clubs announced on Thursday. Spurs are reported to have paid PSG around £23 million ($29.6 million, 25 million euros) to sign the 24-year-old, who won two Ligue 1 titles during his three years in Paris.
The deal was held up as Spurs' request for a work permit was complicated by the suspended two-month prison sentence Aurier was given after an assault on a police officer outside a Paris nightclub in May 2016. "This is a huge and exciting opportunity at a massive football club and I am determined to prove myself as a professional both on and off the pitch," Aurier said in comments published on the Spurs website.
"This is a fresh start for me and I will do everything to make the Spurs fanbase, which is huge and diverse, proud of me. "The fans are the most important people at any club and I am looking forward to showing them and everyone at Spurs the real Serge Aurier." Aurier's conviction for elbowing a police officer meant he was barred from entering the United Kingdom by the British authorities for PSG's Champions League game against Arsenal last November.