OPINION
Tottenham’s supporters are far from over the moon at the news that the club have extended Toby Alderweireld’s contract by a year. That is because the official club statement about one of the team’s outstanding players this season merely provides a short-term boost rather than the long-term one fans crave. Spurs confirmed they have activated an option to keep the Belgian defender until the summer of 2020. What their club announcement did not disclose but has been widely reported in the media is that Alderweireld can leave at the end of the season if a club pay the £25million release fee inserted in the new deal. When it comes to contract and transfer negotiations, chairman Daniel Levy has all the power at Tottenham, and, unsurprisingly, there are calls for him to do what it takes to hang on to the club’s best centre-back, especially by offering a more lucrative long-term deal. Selling a defender who will be 30 in March for a £13million profit does not seem bad business, but Alderweireld is one of the best in the Premier League and there will be a stampede of elite-club interest in him at that price.
This Is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets below:
Okay but how about a proper contract please ?
— josh (@Joshy_G18) January 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/hopekrono/status/1081123315454898179
Paying him and Eriksen £150-180k a week would cost £7.8-9.5 million per season pp.
Over 5 years that’s £39-48 million pp.
Now I’m no businessman but this would be far cheaper than replacing the players plus their wages!
Pay the men!!
??????— Damien Buhagiar (@djBuhagiar) January 4, 2019
Pay him what he wants , this is why we won’t ever win leagues with levy, we won’t pay the best players in the league the going rate with the other best players in the league
— Hobbsy (@LiamHobbs10) January 4, 2019
This guy gets it! It baffles me how many people don't. We now have another year and a half to get him to sign a new contract also
— Adam (@Woodsie_89) January 4, 2019
Means nothing except we are going to lose him for £25m. Embarrassing
— Trevor Bissouma (@Trevorlloyd92) January 4, 2019
Pay the going rate to our prize assets or risk losing them or we will again have to start rebuilding all over again Daniel Levy you complete melt!!!
— lee lambrianou (@leeharry100) January 4, 2019
Another player tearing this club apart! Given a platform and now pushing to leave for no value so the club cannot fully replace them without massive financial outlay!
— Tim Barnard (@timbar78) January 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/xRitchieM11/status/1081139798142840832
Pointy tweet as all it means is that Levy gets no less than £25m when he is sold in the summer. What we want to see is him signing a proper new contract which means he is committed to the club and Levy has finally done the right thing & started to pay players what they’re worth
— steveCOYS ?? (@harwood_steve) January 4, 2019