Tottenham will pay the price unless Toby Alderweireld issue is resolved

Alderweireld
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Danny Murphy17 February 2018

Tottenham need to sort out Toby Alderweireld’s future as quickly as possible. He is a top-drawer player and if Spurs need to relax their wage structure to hang on to him, then they should.

He doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who would demand the same wages that, for example, Virgil van Dijk is receiving at Liverpool. We are led to believe Van Dijk is on about £180,000 a week at Anfield but I don’t get the impression Alderweireld would ask for parity.

It is understandable, however, that he’d want more than his current £50,000 per week.

Both sides have strengths and weaknesses in this argument. Alderweireld has a clause in his contract that, if triggered, means he could leave for £25.4million in the summer of 2019. Any club would want to sign a top-class defender for him at that price.

However, Alderweireld’s bargaining position is not as solid as it was 12 or 18 months ago. He has only just returned from more than three months out with a hamstring injury and Mauricio Pochettino still does not believe he is fit enough to play in the top matches.

Although Davinson Sanchez is not as good as Alderweireld, he is a player with a lot of potential who has formed a promising partnership with Jan Vertonghen.

Crucially, Sanchez is more than seven years younger than Alderweireld. Tottenham also have Juan Foyth, who Pochettino rates highly, so may believe they can live without Alderweireld in the long term.

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But if Alderweireld were to join a top European club or, worse, one of Spurs’ Premier League rivals, what sort of message would that send to Spurs’ main men? There are always players you like to have in your team, who give you a boost when they return from injury, especially centre-backs.

At Liverpool, I was much happier when Sami Hyypia and Stephane Henchoz were fit, and it was the same at Fulham with Brede Hangeland and Aaron Hughes.

I can guarantee that when Alderweireld is back in business, his team-mates will think, “Great - Toby’s back.”

Sanchez and Foyth might be promising but if Spurs are to keep progressing, Alderweireld would need to be replaced in the short term. And how do you do that?

How do you find a centre-back as good as that for reasonable money? Don’t forget, Spurs are paying the best part of £1bn for their new stadium, too.

Alderweireld is the sort of player who will not complain about the pitch at Rochdale on Sunday, and that is exactly the attitude his team-mates must follow. I started in the lower divisions, so I enjoyed going back to play at these venues - Edgar Street, Gay Meadow, Springfield Park.

Instead of worrying about the pitch, Tottenham need to avoid making the same mistakes they did at Newport in the last round, when they were nearly knocked out. I am sure their approach will be much better this time

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