Tottenham in hunt to sign the new Toby Alderweireld for just £8.5m
Tottenham Hotspur must improve their defence next season if they are to have any chance of winning anything.
Spurs fans have piled on the pressure to Daniel Levy to invest adequately in the squad this summer if they are to compete as the ‘big six’ outfit they are dubbed, and they certainly are on the business side of the game.
Albeit tussling with injury difficulties – especially at the back – Ange Postecoglou has overseen a leaky team with defensive robustness certainly not the priority, sacrificed at the altar of free-flowing attacking football which has been found wanting more often than not in terms of results.
Tottenham after £8.5million Belgium youngster
Postecoglou has been forced to put square pegs in round holes, play youngsters more than he intended and has also been crucially let down by several of his senior players. The buck stops with him, but the blame must be shared.
Tottenham could reassess their defence and must add depth in any case, with an uncertainty on the future of Cristian Romero and the likes of Archie Gray having to fill in for months all over the backline.
Micky van de Ven, alongside Romero, must be handled with more care than Postecoglou has time for and Radu Dragusin will be lucky if he sees the pitch competitively before Christmas.
During the late 2010s under Mauricio Pochettino, the central defensive pairing of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen was the best many Spurs fans had witnessed for their side.
And now, the bullish Belgian pair could at least in part be regenerated, with 21-year-old Genk star Matte Smets firmly on Daniel Levy’s radar according to the Sunday Mirror [23 March, pg 71].
Valued at £8.5million, Smets is a ball-carrying centre-half who excels in building attacks from the back – the exact profile Postecoglou envisages with the likes of van de Ven.
The ‘new Alderweireld’ could eventually be the answer to Tottenham’s frailties, having made his senior Belgium bow recently and been signed back by old academy side Genk from Sint-Truidense in 2024.
Smets could emulate Alderweireld
The world is Smets’ oyster right now, with Genk having to put their tails between their legs and admit they made a mistake in releasing him as a teenager.
Since returning to one of the largest clubs in his homeland, the youngster has taken the raised competition in his stride and displayed some excellent performances, including 32 appearances for the Belgian Pro League table-toppers.
Alderweireld himself is now plying his trade back in Belgium for the first time in his senior career, famously denying Genk the league title in 2023 with a late goal to instead win it for his side Royal Antwerp, their most historic goal in decades.
However, the 36-year-old former Spurs hero has suffered a quad injury which could now have seen him already play his final career match for Antwerp, having already announced his retirement at the end of the season.
| Toby Alderweireld | APPS | GOALS |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 236 | 9 |
Smets just has to look at the recent history of Spurs to recognise how well his compatriots have performed there, and could see the potential move as most appealing, with the report suggesting Aston Villa as well as Inter in Italy are monitoring his progress.
Last year saw Smets linked with neighbouring Championship side Watford (Sport Witness, 12 June 2024), demonstrating the leaps and bounds he has come in recent months to now be touted for the Premier League.