Barcelona have reportedly expressed interests towards Tottenham Hotspur’s defender, Toby Alderweireld. The 28-year-old has not extended his contract beyond the summer of 2019, even though his current deal can be prolonged for another year. If the option is exercised by Tottenham Hotspur, a £25m release clause will be activated in June 2019. Tottenham are worried about losing him either for free or on the cheap and they might be forced to let him go next summer to prevent a significant loss.
Alderweireld was left out of the north London derby against Arsenal earlier this month due to fitness concerns. The 28-year-old was fielded in the FA Cup tie against Newport County along with Danny Rose. The former Atletico Madrid player was left at home while the rest of his teammates travelled to Turin for their round of 16 Champions League fixture against Juventus.
Rose was less than happy to be left out of the fixture against Arsenal and one can only imagine how Alderweireld must have felt after hearing Mauricio Pochettino’s team selection for next game. The Argentine manager always demands the very best from all of his players and rewards them equally with game time when they do so.
The Belgian international missed almost three months of football action with a hamstring injury before playing the entire 90 minutes against Newport. His fitness has been a huge cause for concern in recent times as the centre-half often fails to a stay healthy for an entire season.
The current Spurs lineup features Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez in the centre-back role and the duo has looked impressive in recent times. Pochettino has elected to go with the 4-back formation in recent times and it is likely that he will field the same team against Juventus in the second leg.
The Vertonghen and Sanchez partnership has looked solid over the season and breaking up the duo might not be in his best interest right now. This puts Alderweireld in a tough spot who was again left out of the weekend fixture against Crystal Palace.
Alderweireld is a high profile name on the defensive end which can be matched to the superstar status of Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte. He ideally wants to bag a contract in the upwards of £180,000-a-week and Barcelona might just be able to provide him with that.
However, is the Nou Camp his best chance of a promising future? The La Liga giants have already bolstered the defence by signing Yerry Mina in the January window and have handed out a massive contract to Gerard Pique.
Samuel Umtiti is a first-team regular who is close to being indispensable for Ernesto Valverde. Maybe Alderweireld is better off biding his time with the Spurs while better offers come in from other European sides.
