Tottenham Hotspur have announced the signing of Toby Alderweireld on a five-year contract from Atlético Madrid for a fee of £11.4m. The Belgium defender becomes the north London club’s third signing of the summer and he joins in spite of a dispute between Atlético and Southampton, the club at which he played last season on loan.
Southampton wanted to make Alderweireld’s transfer permanent and they took up the contractual option to do so at the cost of €8m. Atlético were able to over-ride the clause by paying €2m to Southampton – but they missed the deadline for the payment, according to the south coast club. Southampton are aggrieved and they feel that they ought to be compensated.
Tottenham, though, have said that the dispute is nothing to do with them and they have pressed ahead with the signing. They maintain that they have acted in good faith, having been promised by Atlético that Alderweireld was available for transfer on the open market.
Tottenham believe that they have signed the ideal central defensive partner to Jan Vertonghen, who is Alderweireld’s team-mate at international level. The pair currently occupy the full-back positions in their national team – Alderweireld on the right; Vertonghen on the left – but Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham manager, intends to play them together in the middle.
Pochettino, the former Argentina centre-half, was alarmed at the defensive frailties of his team last season – only four clubs conceded more goals in the Premier League – and he taken steps to restrengthen.