Spending just half an hour in the company of Serge Aurier, it is easy to see why Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper values him so highly.
The defender is sitting down at the Nigel Doughty Academy and speaking about his first few months Trentside, his injury, the Reds’ injuries, the Premier League relegation fight and his time at Tottenham Hotspur. And then the focus shifts.
Watching him in action for Forest, it is clear what Aurier the player brings. Listening to him talk openly about one of the worst times in his life is to get an insight into Aurier the person.
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The right-back shakes his head and offers an unequivocal response when asked if he will celebrate against his old club this afternoon, should he score. He makes it clear he has too much “respect” for Spurs to even consider doing that.
Tottenham fans may well feel the same about him, too. They certainly did when he pulled on the shirt two days after his brother died.
That was back in 2020. Aurier’s brother, Christopher, had been shot dead in France. But just 48 hours later, he played the full 90 minutes for Spurs in a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United.
"I played for my mum. She needed to know life doesn't stop,” the 30-year-old explains.
"We lost my brother, who we loved so much. But I wanted to play this game because this is my work, first of all. Afterwards, we have our life as a family.
"This was a bad moment for me, but I am strong. In here (pointing to his temple), I am strong. I just wanted to show my mum, ‘yeah, we lost my brother, but you have another kid in this life'.
"I wanted to show that, yeah, this is a bad moment, but don't worry because I'm here and I am going to work hard again for you and for the family. It wasn't a good moment for me or for my family, but when my mum saw me on the pitch, running and fighting…
"Of course, it can’t change anything, but she felt, ‘yeah, OK, I lost my kid but I have another one I can see on TV, he'll run and enjoy it. After this game I went home and I felt like she was happy to see me play like that.
"This is my family mentality. We try to take the bad things in this life and handle them in the right way. Don't be crying and stay in that way for 10 months. We try directly to change the mentality or to change the mood.
"It's impossible for my family to see someone sad all the time. We always try to find good energy rather than bad energy.
"We always try to put the bad energy away and replace it with good energy, because life doesn't stop, you know? Today you cry, tomorrow you laugh. Today you win, tomorrow you lose. You have to know this is the ritual of life.
"It's difficult, but tomorrow is another day. That's why we always fight, because we know we have a lot of challenges today and tomorrow, so we cannot stop for bad news.
"This is my mentality, my family's mentality. Sometimes we just sit together and we talk about everything. This is how I put football pressures out of my mind, because my family laughs a lot and we never accept the bad - we always stay positive.”
Aurier applies the same kind of mentality to football. Several times in conversation he uses the phrase: “That’s life.”
He knows there are always challenges to overcome, be that on or off the pitch, or away from the game. He approaches all of them with the same upbeat attitude and a desire to get on with the job.
“We have a lot of young players in the team who don’t have a lot of experience of this high level. I don’t like to speak, but now I speak more than before,” he says.
“It is a big challenge for me as well. I came here to help the team and am here to help the young players with my experience.
“I work more than before, because before I was in a big team and it was sometimes difficult to say to someone, ‘you need to do this now’. Everyone knew we had the same quality.
“When I knew I was coming here, I watched how the team played. Before I signed, I watched a lot of games.
“When I arrived, I just used my experience and said, ‘guys, we need to speak more on the pitch; if we want to stay in the Premier League and get results, we need to speak more’. You have to do that every day, game by game, training session after training session - that’s teamwork. We have to always speak with each other and try to find solutions.
“I am enjoying my time here. I’ve played with a lot of big teams, but I enjoy it more here because the fans are amazing. You feel that on the pitch and off the pitch.
“When I go shopping with my kids, I feel the love. I’m enjoying it here. That’s why I always give my best - I do that every day, but here, more.
“In life, sometimes you need love. When you feel like people love you, it is easy to do something. I am free here. I give my best here. I always want to try to help the team.”
Aurier has recently recovered from a calf injury. Having him back is a big boost for Cooper, who has talked several times about how influential he is in the dressing room, as one of the more experienced players in the group.
Injuries, though, are something Forest have experienced plenty of this season. They still have several players on the sidelines.
“For me, it is just football. It is nothing,” says Aurier. “You have to cope with these things. When I was at Tottenham, there was a point when we had 22 injured players in one year. It was because we were working hard, you know?
“I think this is just life. It is not a good time for a footballer when he is out injured. But you need to see things positively, if you can.
“If you are not available, you have other players who can play and who can make a positive contribution. The manager’s work is to prepare everyone; everyone has to be ready. This is teamwork. This is being a team.
“If you do not play, you need to work hard to make sure you are ready. You need to work as hard as the guy who does play, because you never know when you will be needed.
“That is my mentality. When I do not play, I work even harder. I want to know that, if something happens, I am ready. This is why we signed a lot of players. We did not take a lot of players on because we wanted to make a statement or show something… this is why.”
Aurier was one of 29 newcomers in the summer. He put pen to paper at the City Ground as a free agent, having left Villarreal.
He also counts PSG, Toulouse and Lens among his old clubs. So how is he finding life at Forest?
“It is different,” he says. “At a big, big team, you have a lot of pressure and you don’t have the time to speak about everything. You are just focused on the game and the next game because you don’t have the time to enjoy it.
“When I was in Paris, it is difficult for the players to enjoy life as normal. It is not the same pressure.
“I have enjoyed everywhere I play. I enjoyed last year in Spain. Villarreal is not a big, big, big team, but you feel a lot of love from the fans. Here is the same. I feel the same here. This is how I enjoy it.
“When you are a footballer, it is the small things you enjoy. Of course we work, but the most important thing for me is when you play somewhere to feel the fans, the ground. It is good. It is really good.”
To Spurs, then, and a chance to reflect on his spell in the capital. He says he has no regrets about how his time there ended and he would like to see Tottenham win some silverware at some point. But make no mistake, he wants to go there with Forest and get a result.
“It is like life, sometimes you are happy, sometimes you are not,” he recalls of moving on in 2021. “Sometimes you do great jobs, sometimes not.
“I am professional. When I go there, I go to fight for my team. We can joke and speak about the past after the game. But I will go there to do my best for my team - and I hope my team will win.
“This is my first goal; my first target. We have the time to speak, joke and love about everything afterwards. For me, my big dream is to go there and win."
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