Tottenham are set to trigger a one-year extension clause in Toby Alderweireld’s contract, Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed.
The 29-year-old’s current deal is due to expire at the end of the season, but Spurs will ensure that he does not leave for free in 2019 by triggering the one-year extension clause.
However, as reported by the Guardian last year, extending Alderweireld’s deal will mean that a £25million release clause will also be triggered, meaning that Spurs could be forced into cashing in on the Belgium international.
Football.London journalist Alasdair Gold, via his personal Twitter account, indirectly quoted Pochettino at his press conference on Thursday as saying that “Spurs will take option to extend Toby Alderweireld’s contract by a year”.
Poch says Spurs will take option to extend Toby Alderweireld's contract by a year. On new stadium: "To play in your stadium is the best thing that can happen in your life. When it's finished I want to move. I'm happy at Wembley but the moment the stadium is ready I want to move."
— Alasdair Gold (@AlasdairGold) December 27, 2018
OPINION
This is bittersweet news for Tottenham fans. Alderweireld was also going to attract major attention in 2019 due to his contract situation, and even though this extension means that he will not leave for free next year, it does mean that he is likely to leave, albeit for a fee. £25million is a sum of money that pretty much all Premier League sides could afford and so will some of the top clubs around Europe. If Alderweireld wants to stay then he would have surely signed a new deal by now. Spurs will be powerless if any £25million bids are made for their key centre-back next summer unless he pens a new deal, which is starting to look less likely with each day that passes. Not much good can come of this if the release clause is true, and Spurs are going to have to find themselves a replacement in the summer unless Daniel Levy finally cracks and gives the defender what he wants.