Toby Alderweireld Named Tottenham’s Player of the Season

Toby Alderweireld and Dele Alli took home honors at Tottenham Hotspur’s annual Supporters Clubs awards on Saturday, May 7 at Hotspur Way.

After arriving from Atlético Madrid last summer for a transfer fee of just £11.5 million — which was a steal — Tottenham was able to solidify one of their major weaknesses a year ago and that was a defense that conceded too many goals (53).

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With Jan Vertonghen being the main holdover from the center-back position from last season, after Younès Kaboul and Vlad Chiricheș were sold, Mauricio Pochettino needed to upgrade his central defense with two key signings with Federico Fazio being the only other option.

The first center-back signed was Kevin Wimmer who would be brought on board mainly as depth and rotational purposes. The second central defender is of course Toby Alderweireld.

The Belgian international would be reunited with his former Ajax teammate and current compatriot on the Belgium national team, Jan Vertonghen.

Since Alderweireld’s arrival, his impact has been felt from the first game of the Premier League season up to now with two more fixtures left (plus other competitions as well). He has appeared in every single Premiership fixture and played 90 minutes in all of them for a total of 3,240 minutes.

Because of the central defensive partnership between Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, plus the help of Danny Rose and Kyle Walker at the full-back positions, Spurs have only conceded 28 goals in 36 league matches this term.

It’s a huge difference from a season ago when they let in 53 goals in the same span because Tottenham managed to keep two clean sheets in their final two matches.

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To be named as Tottenham’s Player of the Season, Toby Alderweireld was pleased with his individual work but stated that it could and should have been about 15 players who also deserved this honor as a team award, not a player award.

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” Alderweireld said (quotes from Tottenham’s official website). “It’s always nice to have something like this, especially for a defender as it’s more difficult to win!”

“I’m honoured but it should or could have been another 15 players who deserved it as well but I’m very happy with it and very proud.”

“It’s not so much about a player of the season this year, it’s about the team of the season because everyone has been on their game and everyone playing at such a high level. A lot of players deserve this award.”

With this being an award ceremony hosted by Supporters Clubs from across the globe who support Tottenham, Toby Alderweireld made sure to give a shout out to those who traveled to Hotspur Way and also voted for him.

“It’s unbelievable to see so many supporters’ clubs here,” Toby Alderweireld added.

“To see fans from all around the world and every part of the globe following Spurs is incredible. The fact that they voted for me is an incredible feeling.”

“It’s difficult to describe – there are no words for it.”

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The other award goes to Dele Alli for his goal against Crystal Palace on January 23rd, which was voted as Goal of the Season. Describing what Alli did isn’t enough, therefore a video is needed.

This goal by Dele Alli will and should be the first thing that people remember from the 20-year-old’s debut season in the Premier League. As well as claiming the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

And not for punching Claudio Yacob in the stomach in his final appearance of the year before being suspended for the final three games.