Toby Alderweireld latest: Tottenham hoping to complete £10m for Atletico Madrid defender despite legal threats from Southampton
Southampton had first-option to buy the centre-back
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Your support makes all the difference.Toby Alderweireld today arrived in London to complete his move to Tottenham despite legal threats from Southampton to scupper the deal, according to Simon Johnson of the Evening Standard.
Chairman Daniel Levy met with Atletico Madrid for talks over the weekend to secure a transfer for the Belgian defender, who was on loan at Southampton last season.
It is understood Spurs have agreed to pay an initial fee of £10m for the 26-year-old, with another £1.5m in various add-ons to follow.
Alderweireld is set to put pen-to-paper on a five-year contract worth in excess of the £50,000-a-week he was on at Altletico.
The switch appeared to be in doubt with Southampton threatening to take legal action against Atletico if he joins anyone else. Southampton had an option to buy Alderweireld outright for £6.8m included in their loan agreement with Atletico last year.
Atletico also inserted a clause which would allow them to sell him elsewhere if they paid Southampton £1.5m. There is an element of confusion though because while the La Liga club have agreed to pay it, Southampton claim it has come too late and insist Alderweireld can’t now go to another club.
It is believed though that the nature of the dispute won’t affect the transfer as far as the centre half is concerned, who preferred to join up with fellow Belgians Nacer Chadli, Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele at White Hart Lane rather than stay at St Mary’s Stadium.
Tottenham are confident they will secure the deal and feel that the issue between Atletico and Southampton is nothing to do with them.
It is expected that Southampton will push for some financial compensation or maybe appeased if Atletico provide another good squad player on loan.
Alderweireld was part of Southampton's back four which ended the last campaign with the second best defensive record behind champions Chelsea.
He will become the third defender to join Spurs this summer as they have already signed Kieran Trippier from Burnley and Cologne's Kevin Wimmer.
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