Exit-linked Tottenham star Toby Alderweireld has confirmed that he would like to return to Ajax at some point in the future.
The 30-year-old will enter the final year of his contract with Spurs at the end of the season and there has already been a lot of speculation about where he will head in the summer transfer window due to a reported £25million release clause becoming active.
According to a report by the Sun in April, Manchester United want to trigger Alderweireld’s exit clause while the Mirror has reported earlier in the year that Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid also have an interest in the Belgium international.
However it would seem as though Alderweireld has his heart set on a romantic return to Ajax, the club he was on the books of for nine years before Atletico Madrid bought him in 2013.
“I don’t want to make too popular statements, but it is certainly 100 per cent in my head,” he told Voetbal International when asked if he would like to return to Ajax one day, as translated by the Sun.
“I have had wonderful times here with three championships, but also lows. But my family was happy here too.”
OPINION
Alderweireld might have been backed into making the claim but you cannot blame the Belgian centre-back for wanting to return to Ajax after the success they have enjoyed this season. Spurs knocked the Dutch giants out of the Champions League in the semi-finals on Wednesday night, even though Erik ten Hag’s men were just seconds away from booking their spot in the final against Liverpool. Alderweireld, as a former Ajax player, would have no doubt been surrounded by the Dutch press after the game and it would have looked bad on him if he said he had no intention of ever playing for the Amsterdam club again, especially after such a killer blow for them. Alderweireld is going to turn 31-years-old old next season so it’s fair to say that he won’t have much time at a club like Man United or Real Madrid if he wants to play for them and then for Ajax.