Serge Aurier says Olivier Letang was behind his PSG departure after Periscope scandal

Former Paris St-Germain defender Serge Aurier says Olivier Letang was responsible for his departure from the club, claiming he still had the support of his team-mates and had been offered a contract extension.

Aurier, now working as assistant coach of RC Lens’ Under-15s without having officially announced his retirement, was speaking 10 years after the Periscope controversy that overshadowed the second half of the 2015-16 season.

During a video chat, the Ivory Coast international criticised then-PSG manager Laurent Blanc, describing him as “a pussy”. The incident resulted in Aurier being excluded from the first-team squad for two months before he left the club in August 2017 to join Tottenham.

However, in an appearance on the Shadytime podcast, Aurier said the controversy itself was not directly responsible for his departure. He also said PSG had offered him a new contract.

“PSG wanted to extend my contract, and I was hugely respected there,” Aurier said.

The former right-back described his comments about Blanc as “a youthful mistake”, but claimed he subsequently became a pariah in the eyes of Letang, who was PSG’s sporting director at the time.

Aurier portrayed Letang as the central figure in his eventual exit, saying he felt targeted by the sporting director despite enjoying the backing of the entire dressing room.

He also recalled the influence of Jean-Louis Gasset, Blanc’s assistant at the time, who has since died. According to Aurier, Gasset regarded him like a son, while the players did not hold the Periscope remarks against him.

Aurier said his former team-mates even met Letang to ask for his return to the professional squad. Their intervention, he claimed, did not change the situation.

The 93-time Ivory Coast international, who scored four goals for his country, also recounted an exchange with former PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he reflected on the reaction inside the dressing room.

In a separate interview with Canal+, Aurier apologised to Blanc, becoming tearful during the exchange. The apology may raise questions about how sincere he was, given that he had said several years earlier that he “doesn’t know how to pretend”.

Aurier eventually left PSG for Tottenham in August 2017, bringing an end to his time in Paris after the controversy and his period outside the first-team group.