Three Premier League clubs that should move for £25m Toby Alderweireld

Earlier this season, Tottenham triggered an extension in Toby Alderweireld’s contract to keep the Belgian defender at the club until the summer of 2020, but it isn’t as good news as many would think.

As a result of the year extension on his deal, Alderweireld will now be available for a cut price of £25m this summer, with the release clause able to be activated from the beginning of the transfer window to the final two weeks.

As such, expect plenty of interest to come the way of one of Spurs’ top players, who surprisingly remained with the club last summer after appearing to be frozen out of the team by Mauricio Pochettino towards the end of the season.

Alderweireld at £25m is an absolute snip for any side, with the 29-year-old still being one of the best defenders in the Premier League. Ordinarily he would be expected to go for £50m+ in this inflated market - perhaps even more with Daniel Levy involved - but is available for as little as a third of Virgil van Dijk’s transfer to Liverpool.

There should be plenty of teams showing interest come the summer and we have taken our pick of the three Premier League sides who should be most aggressive in trying to bring him to their club.

Old Trafford was expected to be Alderweireld’s destination last summer before he ended up staying with Tottenham for a further season.

Manchester United tried and failed in their attempts to sign the then out-of-favour Belgian, who Jose Mourinho was believed to be keen to partner with England’s World Cup hero Harry Maguire.

In the end United ended up with neither, forcing them to continue on with Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, which it was fair to say far from pleased the United faithful.

While there have been signs of improvement from Lindelof, the remaining trio have still failed to really convince that they are the long-term solution to United’s defensive problems, despite Smalling and Jones both signing new deals this season.

A calm, composed leader from the back is exactly what this United team needs and Alderweireld could be the experienced head that also helps to continue the development of Lindelof alongside him, who can play more of a supporting role.

He would also be the best defender the club have had since Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic parted Old Trafford and would be a huge boost to their aspirations next season. United will feel this was a deal that should’ve happened last year, but better late than never, right?

Despite having the best defensive record in the Premier League, Liverpool could improve further at the back with the addition of Alderweireld.

The prospect of him lining up alongside Virgil van Dijk is a mouthwatering one for Liverpool supporters, with both defenders having similar ball-playing attributes that would seemingly compliment each other well.

van Dijk has formed a solid partnership alongside Joe Gomez at the heart of the Reds defence this season, but the young England international is currently absent through a broken leg and has struggled with unfortunate injuries since moving to Anfield.

In reserve, they currently have Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip, leaving them with plenty of room for improvement behind what they currently have in terms of back-up options.

Having Alderweireld in the team would allow Klopp to rotate the trio of centre-backs without ever significantly reducing the quality of player in the starting lineup as is currently the case. Lovren and Matip look set to be handed the task of marking Robert Lewandowski in the first leg of their Round of 16 Champions League tie against Bayern Munich.

Alderweireld would add further quality to a Liverpool side that lacks depth compared to Manchester City, who have John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi to choose from at centre-back.

Nothing would please Chelsea fans more than to get under the skin of rivals Tottenham by poaching away one of their star players for a discount price.

Despite having the third best defensive record in the Premier League, they can certainly upgrade on David Luiz who still shows plenty of lapses in concentration and hasn’t performed as well as he did in Antonio Conte’s back three.

Antonio Rudiger is still slightly raw, but would benefit from playing alongside a composed head like Alderweireld, as opposed to the often erratic Luiz.

Whether or not the Belgian would make the move across the capital to join one of Tottenham’s biggest rivals would be interesting to see, although Chelsea could certainly offer him a bigger wage packet than Spurs.

It’s reported that Alderweireld’s contract extension saw his wages rise from £60,000-a-week to £75,000-a-week, though there will be plenty of suitors offering him well over six figures per week. At present Liverpool’s Lovren earns more than Alderweireld in salary.

‘Sarri-ball’ requires defenders to be comfortable on the ball and to play out from the back, something which the Tottenham man would have no issue adapting to after earning a reputation for being one of the best ball-playing defenders in the world.