Ronald Koeman explains Emerson Royal's move to Tottenham Hotspur

Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has explained why the Catalan giants allowed Emerson Royal to join Tottenham Hotspur during the summer transfer window.

The La Liga outfit paid Real Betis €9m (£7.7m) at the start of June to take full ownership of the defender, who was then sold to Tottenham at the end of August, with Spurs thought to have paid in the region of £26m.

Koeman has said that the opportunity to make a profit, in addition to the options that he already had at right-back, meant that the deal made sense for the club amid their financial issues.

"I wanted to help the club and an example of that was the sale of Emerson. I told the club that if they could make a profit then they should sell Emerson because we have [Sergino] Dest, [Oscar] Mingueza and even Sergi Roberto," Koeman told Sport.

"There are undoubtedly more positive than negative things. If I didn't want him to go, I would have said: 'No, he is not moving'."

Emerson made three appearances for Barcelona at the start of the current season, featuring off the bench against Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao before starting against Getafe.