The London Evening Standard are reporting that Toby Alderweireld will not be included in Tottenham Hotspur’s side for the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United on Saturday.
The Belgian returned to the Spurs starting line-up for the 1-1 draw at Brighton last night, his first Premier League appearance since October in place of Davinson Sanchez, who was rested for the trip to the Amex Stadium.
At 21, we all can see that Sanchez has bags of potential to be a top class defender, but he still has a lot to learn which was plain to see when he had a torrid time against Manchester City in the recent encounter at Wembley.
Pochettino has spent the last three weeks highlighting the fact that the form of his current players was the reason that Alderweireld had not been getting a look in. In my opinion, it’s simple, if we want to give ourselves the best opportunity to win silverware this season, Toby has to start against United.
Whether he will sign a new contract or not, is irrelevant. We need to be picking our strongest side and he fits into that. We haven’t won the FA Cup since 1991, we are crying out for trophies and players want medals in their cabinet.
The Evening Standard claim Spurs have decided to cash in on Toby this summer, when they can still hope to command a fee of closer to £50m due to his contract situation. The club can trigger an option to extend Alderweireld’s contract by a year to 2020 but that would activate a buyout clause allowing him to leave if they receive a £25m bid before the final two weeks of the summer 2019 transfer window.
Would you pick Alderweireld for the FA Cup semi final? Have your say below
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