According to the Manchester Evening News Manchester United are attempting to negotiate a £55million deal for Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld.
United are prepared to make Alderweireld their most expensive defensive signing according to MEN to reinforce a backline Jose Mourinho is unconvinced by. The United manager wants to recruit a left-back and a right-back, with Juventus’ Alex Sandro prioritised to replace Luke Shaw.
Spurs are resigned to losing the 29-year-old Alderweireld after he decided against signing a new contract and intend to sell him this summer rather than in a year’s time, when his current deal activates a £25m release clause.
As mentioned the !55m fee for Alderweireld would beat the £30.9m United paid Benfica up front for Victor Lindelof last year. United paid Villarreal £30m for Eric Bailly in the 2016 summer transfer window.
Spurs are ready to offload the unsettled Alderweireld, as well as the likes of Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente, Moussa Sissoko and former United target Danny Rose to free up funds for coach Mauricio Pochettino
The article goes on to describe how Pochettino has challenged Daniel Levy to be ‘brave’ by investing in a squad which has finished in the top three in the last three seasons but remains trophy-less
“We need to talk a lot between us and the club,” Pochettino said in his final presser of the season. “I think I have a very clear idea of what we need to do. I don’t know if the club will agree with me or not, but we are going to talk next week to create what I think we need to do together again, to try to improve.
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He added: “That is a little bit up to Daniel and the club, of course, to agree with us because, after four years, I think we need to assess that period if we want to compete for big, big trophies. I think all that we achieved until today is fantastic but it will be so important to create again.The club’s ambition is always to win but it is not easy to find the way. I think it is so important that we are going to move to the new stadium, but not only that is going to make us close to winning.
Pochettino went on to say: “I think they’re going to listen to me, of course, but sometimes I have some crazy ideas. But you need to be brave in this kind of situation, in our club with our unbelievable fans, and take risks. I think it’s a moment for the club to take risks and try to be competitive.”
The article goes on to describe how Alderweireld spent three months of the season sidelined with a hamstring injury but was overlooked by Pochettino towards the end of the season, despite regaining fitness. Alderweireld completed 90 minutes in three of Spurs’ last five Premier League fixtures, by which time Champions League qualification had all but been secured.
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