Toby Alderweireld is looking forward to a reunion with his former Southampton team mates at St Mary's on Saturday.

Toby Alderweireld has spoken on Tottenham Hotspur's official website about how he is looking forward to returning to St Mary's but is focused on helping his new employers get all three points.

“I will be happy to play there again and to see all the guys but it’s all about a good performance for us," Alderweireld told Spur's official website.

"I’m very thankful to Southampton and we helped each other. "

"They needed a centre-back and I had the decision to stay at Atletico or come to the Premier League."

“They haven’t got the results they would have wanted in the last couple of games but they are doing well,"

"They have a very decent team and have played well this season. If you look player by player, it’s a strong squad.

"They are consistent and capable of beating anyone and they have something special there."

Nice words from Alderweireld and it is certainly true that he was a key component in last season's Saints squad, although many of the St Mary's faithful believe that in Virgil Van Dijk we have a better all round player than the Belgium.

Alderweireld's move to White Hart Lane left a sour taste in the mouth of many Saints fans, the player himself had expressed a desire to stay beyond his one season loan deal and Saints believed that they had the option to buy at a fixed price at the end of the season, well below the eventual fee Spurs paid.

But when Tottenham came a knocking in their usual inimitable style that meant Athletico Madrid were keen to get the best price rather than sell to Spurs.

That having been said Alderweireld himself was the man in control and could easily have said it was Sants he wanted to go to.

But the player was being tapped up publicly by Belgium International side team mate Jan Vertonghen who seemed determined to wage a one man recruitment campaign in the national press urging Alderweireld to join Spurs and if that was the tip of the iceberg then under the surface that would have been multiplied by ten.

At the end of the day the player himself made the decision, that was his choice and we Saints fans shouldn't get too upset in that he was never our player in the first place, the fact that we got him on loan was a minor miracle in that we were not the most attractive of clubs to join in the summer of 2014 with a depleted squad being rebuilt and many predicting a doomsday scenario.

Yes it did all end on a sour note, but on the plus side we used the loan system to do a job for us on a temporary basis whilst we reshuffled and regrouped and overall it was better to have had Toby Alderweireld last season than not have him.

Photo: Action Images

schatfield added 09:13 - Dec 18 I hope he doesnt get boo'ed (but suspect he will). He did very well for us and bare him no grudges about moving on.
0

Fordy added 09:32 - Dec 18 Personally, I think Toby is a better player than VdV. I doubt he'll get a particularly warm reception on Saturday but with hindsight it should never have got to that stage and Saints should have pulled out all the stops in the January window to secure him.
1

SanMarco added 10:17 - Dec 18 I am not one who feels that giving visiting old boys a hard time actually works. It did a couple of times with Hoddle because our PLAYERS were out to get him. Toby chose Spurs over us fullstop. All the 'tapping up' and 'isn't Levy horrible' stuff isn't really relevant. The player himself chose higher wages and the prospect of a higher finish in the league. Whether our club can address those issues and make such players make different decisions in the future is the key here. We can abuse Toby on Saturday if we so wish, and of course dear old MoPo, but neither will give a stuff. Of course people pay their money and make their choices but I would prefer that we got behind our team, none of whom will be interested in our opinions of Toby...

1

IWOZTHERE added 10:30 - Dec 18 I don't think he deserves 'stick'. It was the club's fault that we were outmanouvered by Spurs. We were complacent and tried to get him 'on the cheap'. We should concentrate on lifting our players rather than barracking him.
1

saintsnutcase added 10:36 - Dec 18 It is very sad that we could not keep Toby -- as usual, it came down to money. He is clearly one of the best defenders in the Prem, and is one of the few Saints leavers who has immediately reproduced the same form for his new club. It is ridiculous and small minded to boo Toby tomorrow, and will only result in him playing even better against us. I wish we had Toby and VVD in central defence tomorrow!!

1

TimSaint added 12:26 - Dec 18 He knew full well he was going to Spurs, but blamed it on his agent dad not informing him. Strange that we never did hear anything from the club to say they got that compensation from Atletico after they effectively auctioned him off. Yes he has performed well and the Spurs defence is pretty solid - but definitely not impenetrable. Hopefully we can expose it tomorrow and keep it tight at the back for once !!

0

TimSaint added 12:29 - Dec 18 Toby must be due some time off for injury soon, as he seemed to have quite a few niggling problems when he was here. Saying tht though, I reiterate what saintsnutcase said and would have loved to have seen VvD and TA together in our team !!
1

TeamCortese added 21:59 - Dec 18 The fans should boo him. If he had any respect for our club he wouldn't have gone to Spurs. Before joining us he couldn't get into the Athletico Madrid first team and we gave him a lifeline with regular EPL football. Going to Spurs is bit of a spit in the mouth IMO.
0

NewburySaint added 09:36 - Dec 19 Like Fordy I too think Toby is better than VvD although am more than happy that we have VvD on board. But the only reason Toby didn't sign for us was because we were never at any stage proactive with his transfer-we could have, should have sealed this long before Spurs became interested even if it meant tearing up a the initial deal and thrashing out a new 1-surely the club, in particular LR, could recognise the fact that after having a brilliant season his value was a lot more than the alleged 6.8 mill that had originally been agreed?! How much was it that we paid for Shane Long?!!

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls