Tottenham Hotspur suffered a setback on Sunday in their race to finish in the Champions League places.
Paul Merson has claimed Toby Alderweireld’s decision to pen a new contract at Tottenham ‘doesn’t look good’ on his previous manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Before Jose Mourinho’s arrival last month, it was looking increasingly likely that Alderweireld was going to see out the rest of his contract, but he put that to bed recently, as reported by BBC Sport.
Whilst Alderweireld has now committed his long-term future to Tottenham, he isn’t the only one Spurs fans will be hoping to tie down for the long-term because Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen can, as it stands, leave on a free transfer next summer.
Speaking to Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (21/12/19 at 1:05 pm), Merson thinks Eriksen won’t sign, but Mourinho needs Vertonghen to pen a new deal, as he also shared his thoughts on Alderweireld.
“It doesn’t look good on Pochettino,” Merson told Soccer Saturday. “From a distance, you think, ‘well, why didn’t you sign six months ago or three months ago?’
“As soon as the manager has gone, you’ve gone, ‘right, bang, I’m singing’. So, it doesn’t look good on Pochettino. I don’t see Eriksen signing.
“I’d like to think you would want to get Vertonghen signed up as well. If you can get both of them [signed up] the way Mourinho wants to play, he wants to make sure he doesn’t let in any goals before he scores any. If he can get his centre-halves in place, he’s got them two and Sanchez. Then he’ll build the team then and start winning games 1-0, 2-0. He won’t like this 3-2 lot. That’s not him.”
Tottenham suffered a damaging defeat to Chelsea on Sunday and it is a performance that will concern the fans because they are showing the same signs they showed before Pochettino was sacked.
The January transfer window is upon everyone and whether Tottenham will dip and bring in some fresh faces remains to be seen.
But if the club can secure the futures of Eriksen and Vertonghen also then Daniel Levy will be saving a lot of money come next summer.
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