Didier Drogba Defends Serge Aurier After PSG Suspend Star for Laurent Blanc Slur

Didier Drogba has jumped to the defence of Ivorian compatriot Serge Aurier after the Paris Saint-Germain right-back was recorded insulting teammates and calling manager Laurent Blanc a homophobic slur.

Former Chelsea and Ivory Costa striker Drogba—currently with the Montreal Impact—took to his official Twitter account on Wednesday to post words about "young" Aurier, suggesting he should be forgiven for his error.

ESPN FC's Mark Rodden confirmed the 23-year-old Aurier was suspended by PSG on Sunday after a live Periscope session filmed him hurling insults at his manager as well as team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic.  

Rodden also provided quotes from ex-France forward Christophe Dugarry, who spoke to French broadcaster Canal Plus and shared his belief that Aurier would never represent PSG again: "Aurier will never wear the PSG jersey again. He'll be sent to the reserves and will be sold during the close season."

Drogba is right in that this generation is the first to have such easy access to social media and is therefore more susceptible to it, but that wouldn't excuse the views Aurier appeared to express in the Periscope video in question.

The BBC's John Bennett took note of Drogba's "strong" defence, one that could leave him vulnerable to criticism via association with the wrong character in the eyes of some:

The Independent's Tom Sheen also cited Canal Plus when he reported PSG would not sack their defender after he was seen referring to Blanc as a "f----t" and alleging Ibrahimovic is shown favouritism by the management.

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Johnson cited French journalist Nicolas Hortus when he reported Aurier would indeed be sent to the reserves for the remainder of the campaign as well as be fined €180,000 (£140,000):

While Aurier may still be relatively young in terms of his footballing career, many might argue the player is old enough to know his inflammatory comments were in poor taste to say the least.

Having a figure like Drogba in his corner certainly won't hurt the PSG outcast in his bid to restore his reputation, but there's only so much the 37-year-old's words of support can do to aid Aurier's cause.