The saga involving Tottenham Hotspur’s Toby Alderweireld has gone quiet…for now.
Jermaine Jenas has told Express Sport he is ‘almost certain’ that Tottenham Hotspur defender Toby Alderweireld will sign for Manchester United in January.
Alderweireld’s future in North London has dominated back pages for most of the summer.
The 29-year-old is out of contract with Tottenham in 2020 but Spurs will be contractually obliged to accept bids in the region of £25 million next summer if they come in.
The Belgium centre-back was heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford but despite the Lilywhites lowering their asking price from £75 million to £60 million [The Mirror], an agreement wasn’t reached.
But Jenas said to Express Sport he is relatively certain that the big defender will join Jose Mourinho’s side in the winter transfer window.
“I think his age and the fact that he’s started to pick up a few injuries doesn’t help Toby,” said the ex-Tottenham midfielder.
“From United’s point of view they were saying ‘why should we pay £60million when we can get him for £25million in January?’.
“I’m almost certain if he’s not gone by the end of this window already, then he’ll go to United [in January].”
Has Alderweireld been thrown a lifeline by Mauricio Pochettino, though? The Argentine manager named him on the bench for Tottenham’s win over Fulham today, so perhaps this is the first step toward that elusive contract extension, though fans won’t hold their breath.
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