PSG banish Aurier to the stiffs over Laurent Blanc gay slur
The Ivory Coast defender will spend three weeks with the Ligue 1 champions' fourth-tier B team after making disparaging remarks in a video.
Paris Saint-Germain defender Serge Aurier was on Friday banished to the club's reserve team as punishment for insulting coach Laurent Blanc in a video on social media.
Aurier, 23, will spend three weeks training with PSG's reserves, who play in France's amateur fourth tier, with the Ivorian then set to return to the first-team squad on March 21. PSG said the decision was made to "protect the group from any potential problems" after Aurier drew the ire of the French champions following his appearance in a video on the social media site Periscope in which he directed homophobic insults at Blanc and also appeared to insult several team-mates.
Aurier was dropped from the squad to face Chelsea last week after making disparaging comments about Blanc and team mates including Ángel Di María and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a video posted online. Blanc said he took the comments "very badly".
Aurier, who joined Paris on an initial loan deal from Toulouse in 2014 before the move was made permanent last summer, will miss PSG's Champions League last-16 second leg at Stamford Bridge on March 9.