Jose Mourinho to speak with Serge Aurier and allow him to decide if he can play following brother's death

Jose Mourinho will speak with Serge Aurier and allow him to decide whether or not he can face Newcastle United on Wednesday night after the right-back’s brother was shot dead.

Aurier’s brother Christopher was killed outside a Toulouse nightclub at 5am and, according to reports in France, police are still searching for the gunman.

Tottenham are supporting Aurier and will grant the Ivory Coast international compassionate leave to return to France if he wishes.

That could rule Aurier out of the trip to Newcastle, but Mourinho and Spurs are putting the well-being of the player first.

A Tottenham statement read: “The club is deeply saddened to confirm media reports that Serge Aurier’s brother passed away in the early hours of this morning.

“We are supporting Serge at this difficult time and we ask that the privacy of the player and his family is respected.

“Everybody at the club sends their sincerest condolences to Serge and his family. Our thoughts are with them all.”

Aurier helped Tottenham to a 2-1 North London derby win over Arsenal just hours before the incident involving his brother.

Toulouse police were called after local residents found a man lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to his stomach.

Christopher was also a footballer for French fifth division with Rodeo Toulouse and he had a trial with Brentford in 2011 but was not signed by the London club. He also played for Racing Club de Lens, Gueugnon, Chantilly and Belgian club Rebecq.

“Brentford were in League One at the time. Everything went well with my trial, but I could not speak English at the time," Christopher said in 2017.

“The coach [Uwe Rosler] told me ‘It's a shame you can't understand my instructions. I'd have signed you otherwise’.”

While Tottenham will support Aurier in any decision he makes, Mourinho will face a difficult decision over who to play at right-back if the former Paris Saint-Germain man cannot face Newcastle.

With Kyle Walker-Peters on loan at Southampton, Tottenham do not have another natural right-back at the club and Mourinho has spoken of trying midfielders Gedson Fernandes and Oliver Skipp in the position during training.

Moussa Sissoko can play at right-back, but he has been an influential figure for Mourinho in midfield with Tanguy Ndombele still out of favour.

The victory over Arsenal reignited Tottenham’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Europa League with games against Newcastle, Leicester City and Crystal Palace to come.

But the lifting of Manchester City’s European ban means that eighth place, which Spurs now occupy, will not be good enough for Europa League qualification.

That means they must now overtake Sheffield United, who finish their season with games against Leicester, Everton and Southampton.

“I think after the lockdown defensively we've been a lot stronger,” said Toby Alderweireld, who scored Tottenham’s winning goal against Arsenal. “We're getting there. We have some momentum going, so I think it (the Arsenal game) can be a changing point. In this period when things aren't 100 percent going your way, the thing is to work very hard and it'll come. We showed we have character.”