‘Pochettino will have expected loyalty’ – Gary Neville makes bombshell Tottenham transfer claim

Sun 1 April 2018 17:30, UK

By Richard Parks

Gary Neville has insisted on Sky Sports that Tottenham will sell Toby Alderweireld during the summer transfer window.

The pundit and Manchester United legend is convinced that the Belgium international is heading out of the White Hart Lane exit door after he was omitted from Mauricio Pochettino’s matchday squad for the team’s 3-1 win over Chelsea on Sunday.

Alderweireld has made only two appearances for Spurs since the beginning of November due to hamstring problems but played the full 90 minutes for Belgium in midweek and his national manager Roberto Martinez emphasised how strongly he finished the match.

Former defender Neville delivered the bombshell claim that Spurs will sell Alderweireld rather than allow him to enter the final 12 months of his contract.

“Tottenham are very clinical around players, Pochettino will have expected loyalty, but you can understand Alderweireld wanting a big contract and they’ll cash in on him in the summer,” Neville told Sky Sports’ live coverage of the match during the first half.

“Tottenham are very careful the way in which they do things in terms of breaking the structure, and I think they will cash in.”

Football Insider verdict:

Whichever way you look at it, the only conclusion to be drawn from Alderweireld’s absence from the Spurs squad when fully fit is that the club plan to sell him at the end of the season. Kyle Walker was similarly demoted in the final weeks of last season, and the writing is surely now on the wall for Alderweireld, who knows he can command a far higher salary at another elite club that his current reported £50,000-a-week deal at Tottenham. Expect another £40million-plus departure, and despair from supporters.