The agent is only doing what he's told. If he wasnt, he wouldnt be Toby’s agent any longer. So clearly it isnt Toby’s agent being difficult. It’s Toby. He doesnt want to be here. Oh well. Move on. Good bye. Just dont sell him to an English club.
But aurier is Belgian
Selling our 4th best Belgian/reserve centre back doesn't sound particularly worrisome when you think about it.
I would be tempted to keep him next year and sell for £25m in summer 2019.
Anything can happen between then and now.
What we have to consider is if we give £150k per week for four years, he may well be worth that £150k in the first 1-2 years but would he be worth that in years 3/4? Would he be same player.
The club can easily afford the £150k - the question is are we getting value towards the back end of the contract. He may have diminished physically, so could only be a £70k player at the end and we are paying £150k.
I do think physically he is looking ‘older’.’
The rumoured £110k per week and chance to play in our stadium and great club more than fair.
Dan Kilpatrick
@Dan_KP
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33s
#thfc Alderweireld a doubt for Sunday's game at Palace with a small injury in the same leg that kept him out for more than 3 months. He'll be assessed today and tomorrow.
You know he can go to anywhere like any of our rivals next season if they meet the release clause.
Just listening to the Guardian football weekly. Apparent Real are looking to offload Bale. Its bit out there but any thoughts on a Toby swap deal?
People who are going 'FFS why don't we stop being so tight and just pay him 150k' are completely missing the point. He's obviously being tempted by clubs above us in the pecking order, both on a football and financial level. They will be in his and his agents ear and just offering a blank cheque + the trophies. We go to 150k, they will just offer 180 or 200k. We wont win in that scenario.
We have to bank on a player being happy here with his day to day life, so forgoing a bit of financial reward, and feel the timeframe for the clubs ambition matches his. Each year some we will keep, but inevitably some we will lose. Especially when the core of the squad really aren't that young anymore.
As for Alderweireld the player, well my thoughts are well documented over the last year or so. I think people saying he is the best centre back in the league are making lazy claims based on a couple of years ago. Time's moved on since then... In his first season and up until that leg injury he got those claims were accurate, he was some distance for me ahead of others, in imperious form. However he hasn't reached those heights since in the last year... He's lost a bit of mobility, he's a little more tentative, there are more little errors that happen, and he seems to be more injury prone given the number of times he has a muscle problem etc in games (culminating in the major injury recently). Vertonghen has overtaken whilst he has slipped back a bit. That's not to say he isn't still a very good centre back, and it would be a blow to lose him, but he's been on a slight downward trajectory in the last year, and no evidence currently he's on his way back up to the summit.
Certainly don't think his injury has helped his case.
I'm not sure about all the rumours being true but there's obviously truth in it because he hasn't signed yet.
He must know £150k per week is more than we are likely to agree to so I wonder if he is really asking for that, if he is and it isn't a negotiating gambit then he has obviously made up his mind to go.
I'd guess the club have decided that is the case and are ready to cash in come summer, we'll soon know.
This mumble about agents is always nonsense. We had the same rubbish of people blaming berbatovs agent and bale's. The players instructs the agent, not the other way round.
Just listening to the Guardian football weekly. Apparent Real are looking to offload Bale. Its bit out there but any thoughts on a Toby swap deal?
The release clause activates in 2019 .. Not this yearYou know he can go to anywhere like any of our rivals next season if they meet the release clause.