Toby Alderweireld looks set to continue his career in Qatar. According to The Telegraph Tottenham Hotspur has accepted an offer from Al-Duhail and the 32-year-old defender only has to come to a personal agreement, after which he can fly to the Middle East for his medical examination. His contract with Tottenham comes to an end after six seasons.
Since the arrival of new trainer Nuno Espirito Santo and sporting director Fabio Paratici, Tottenham has been working on the renewal of the rear. The club is working on the arrival of Cristian Romero from Atalanta and is also in contact with Takehiro Tomiyasu from Bologna. Alderweireld was allowed to leave for the right price, after he indicated internally that he wanted to make a transfer. It is not known how much Al-Duhail will pay, but the amount would be “close to the ambitious amount of 13 million pounds (15.2 million euros, ed.) that Tottenham wanted to receive”.
Alderweireld, a fixture in the Belgian national team at the European Championships during the European Championship, played 25 games in the Premier League last season. He did not miss a minute in the last seven games of the season and was also on the field for 90 minutes in the lost EFL Cup final against Manchester City (1-0). Despite this, his prospects for playing time next season seemed limited. He has a contract until mid-2023 and partly because of this, Tottenham wanted to keep a significant amount from him.
Al-Duhail became Qatar’s champion in 2020 and finished second last season, enough for a spot in the Asian Champions League group stage. Alderweireld has played for Tottenham since 2015, after coming over from Atlético Madrid, and has already made 236 official appearances for Tottenham. He started his career at Ajax: the defender joined the youth academy in Amsterdam at the age of fifteen, made his debut in January 2009 in the first team and eventually played 186 official matches for Ajax. In 2013, he made the switch to Atlético for seven million euros. He didn’t get much playing time in his first season and then he was kept at Southampton for a year before moving to Tottenham.
In recent months, there has been talk about a possible switch to the interested Royal Antwerp, which comes from Alderweireld’s hometown of Antwerp. According to The Telegraph Antwerp actually reported itself, but the approach was rejected. A return to the Eredivisie was also mentioned as an option in recent months. In January journalist Mike Verweij made of The Telegraph It is known that Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, PSV scout, has contacted Alderweireld’s agent. “Whether PSV becomes a serious option is mainly up to Ajax. If Ajax comes, Alderweireld does not have to think about it for three seconds. Then he would rather go to Amsterdam than to Eindhoven,” said Verweij at the time.