Tottenham can't lose Toby Alderweireld

It should be clear to anyone who witnessed the last two seasons of Tottenham football that Toby Alderweireld might be the most indispensable player on the team.

The Belgian’s ongoing contract negotiations and links to Serie A often fly under the radar as Tottenham also grapples with Kyle Walker’s seemingly inevitable departure as well as rumors about Eric Dier and Harry Kane.

But there is no clearer dividing line between the troubled Spurs of the past and today’s revamped title contenders than Alderweireld’s arrival at the club in the summer of 2015.

Prior to Atlético Madrid selling the player to Spurs after his successful season on loan with Southampton, Mauricio Pochettino’s team looked virtually out of ideas in their own half.

Yes, there was Hugo Lloris between the sticks and Jan Vertonghen patrolling the penalty area, plus Walker and Danny Rose developing on the flanks.

Despite that collection of talent though, Spurs were woeful in defense. They conceded 53 goals in 2014/15, as much or more than all but four other Premier League teams. That Pochettino still led the team to a fifth place finish is a testament to his ability — and Kane’s scoring boots.

Acquiring Alderweireld — for just £11.5 million — was the boldest move of a summer full of shuffling the ranks. In the Belgian Tottenham added a mobility to complement Vertonghen’s as well as a player thoroughly comfortable with the ball at his feet.

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Now, those are fairly generic qualities used to describe a centre-back, but in Alderweireld’s case they reach something close to their logical extreme. His talents in conjunction with his countryman’s are such that Tottenham is able to play much farther up the pitch, without fear of losing runners or missing balls played over the top.

This, in turn, enables Spurs to play a much more compact game, one conducive to the high-press system Pochettino favors. Teams that want to play expansively, or want to calmly navigate the ball through midfield, are confronted with a far smaller space in which to work with a lot more bodies to get around.

Now, a case could be made that the advent of a proper defensive midfielder in Spurs starting XI — specifically in the form of Dier — also facilitated this style of play. Indeed, that added heft to midfield did provide more cover for Alderweireld and co, and deserves it’s share of the credit as well.

Dier’s talents in that area were not entirely unique. Just ask Victor Wanyama. That was a tactical switch that worked out well, not necessarily the result of the prowess of one man.

In contrast, it is Alderweireld’s singular ability that permits the backline to function as well and as brazenly as it does. When he went down injured in October, Spurs only won two of the subsequent ten matches in all competitions. His return in December marked the beginning of a surge of quality that elevated Spurs into the title race come the new year.

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Which is the long way of saying that Spurs need to do whatever they can to keep Alderweireld at the club, whether it means doubling his salary to meet that of Lloris and Kane — or even exceeding that hallowed £100,000-a-week limit.

The 28-year-old is, simply put, a generational talent. It’s not that Spurs would struggle to replace him — they, in all likelihood, stand little chance of ever succeeding in that regard. The club needs to put him on the same pedestal as Kane and Dele, which means doing whatever they can to keep hold of him.

Tottenham can’t lose Toby Alderweireld

By Ryan Wrenn | Jun 29, 2017

It should be clear to anyone who witnessed the last two seasons of Tottenham football that Toby Alderweireld might be the most indispensable player on the team.