Toby Alderweireld and Tottenham on the Verge of a New Deal

Tottenham and Toby Alderweireld have begun contract negotiations to sign the Belgian defender to a long-term deal, increase his weekly salary and remove the £25 million release clause on his current deal.

Nearly three months ago, Football Leaks reported that Toby Alderweireld had a £25.4 million release clause inserted into his contract upon signing for Tottenham last summer.

This was a notable inclusion because if Spurs opted to exercise Alderweireld’s one year option to extend his deal for the 2020 season, any teams interested in signing the Belgian international could trigger the 27-year-old’s release clause in the summer of 2019.

By having a release clause in Alderweireld’s contract — not common in English football, though buy-out clauses (which are different) are mandatory in Spain, according to The Guardian’s Ian Lynam — there was a chance that Spurs’ main rivals, or anyone else, would splurge out £25 million to automatically buy the Belgian international.

Tottenham would have no say on the matter if any team wanted to sign Toby Alderweireld.

If Spurs don’t agree to sell the Belgian defender should a team match his release clause, Spurs and the purchasing club would go to a tribunal and still have to sell Alderweireld regardless, because a release clause, if triggered, is an automatic process.

It has to happen. If a team decides to purchase the player outright via a release clause.

The purchasing club would directly talk to the player himself and work out a transfer.

This would have a substantial impact on Spurs as they would lose a valuable member of Mauricio Pochettino’s squad who has helped transform Spurs into a defensive juggernaut alongside Jan Vertonghen since his arrival last summer.

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With Spurs and Toby Alderweireld beginning contract extensions for a new deal, this won’t just be a simple long-term deal to keep the 27-year-old beyond the 2020 season.

Nor will it also just bump up his weekly salary up to £75,000-per-week — which Alderweireld rightly deserves after just one season with Tottenham.

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More importantly, a new contract will completely remove Alderweireld’s £25 million release clause according to the Daily Mirror.

Therefore, eliminating any team from potentially signing away one of Spurs’ best acquisitions in recent seasons and arguably the best one during the Mauricio Pochettino era.

The Daily Mirror mentioned that Alderweireld’s release clause wouldn’t have any immediate effect for Spurs and truth be told, they’re correct.

At the moment, it’s still only 2017. So any interested teams who are thinking of signing the 27-year-old central defender are two years away from doing so.

Besides, because Tottenham are a much better team with Toby Alderweireld playing since he joined last season, it was only a matter of time before talks to sign a new deal would have begun.

Even if a release clause wasn’t inserted into this deal between Atlético Madrid and Spurs.

Seeing as how plenty of first team players have signed long-term deals with Spurs at the behest of Mauricio Pochettino to retain his side’s core pieces and the foundations for this team for the future.

Next: Tottenham's Most Expensive Player Insists on Staying

When, not if, when Toby Alderweireld signs a new deal with Spurs, he would become the 10th player on Mauricio Pochettino’s starting XI to extend his stay long-term (not including others who are future starters like Harry Winks, etc.).

Alderweireld would be joining the likes of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Mousa Dembélé, Eric Dier, Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Jan Vertonghen and Hugo Lloris to commit their futures with the north London club.

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