Alderweireld and Martial swap deal?

Would Spurs Fans Be Happy With An Alderweireld Martial Swap Deal?

Spurs target the top young talent around the world

Anthony Martial

French outlet RMC Sport report that  Anthony Martial has not received a formal contract extension offer from Manchester United. They go on to say that talks have reached breaking point.

The 22-year-old (23 in December) player has even held off on buying the house he was looking at in Manchester, so uncertain he feels his future is right now.

The French international left winger (he has 17 full international caps scoring 1 goal) won the Golden Boy Award for the best under-21 player in Europe in 2015 and interested us before his big money move to Manchester United.

On 1 September 2015, Martial completed a move to Manchester United for £36 million, potentially rising to £58 million, on a four-year contract with the option of another year.

It was the highest transfer fee paid for a teenager, breaking the previous record of £27 million United paid for left-back Luke Shaw from Southampton a year earlier, and that PSG had paid for Brazilian centre-back Marquinhos in 2013.

United paid £36 million up front for Martial, but his contract contains three bonus clauses worth £7.2 million each, taking the potential fee to £57.6 million. The clauses each relate to certain accomplishments being achieved during hist four year contract, including if Martial scores 25 goals during that time, racks up 25 caps for France or wins the Ballon d'Or before June 2019.

Wikipedia list him as having scored 24 goals thus far so that would take his fee to £43.2 million and he is only 8 caps off another £7.2 million payment.

We have continued to track him and now the papers are suggesting that he could make the 'shock' switch to Tottenham. He fee would surely be well in excess of £50 million and moving into a new stadium that may well have to be funded by a player sale.

Is this in our minds with regard to Toby Alderweireld? Could we suggest some sort of swap deal in the summer. A football club has to continually monitor the age of players and Alderweireld is 29 in March. However, if wages are a problem for Alderweireld, would they not be a problem for Martial?

Martial is a player most Tottenham fans would welcome,young and talented, but he is under contract until 2019 and Manchester United do have a one year extension option. He has started 25 games in the Premier League this season so he isn't being frozen out, although they have just signed Alexis Sanchez to play in his position.


A big play is being made in the media about this and too me, at this stage, it has been blown out of all proportion. There is no rush for United to send him a contract renewal, they are obviously seeing how Sanchez settles in and will review their options in the summer.

It is a reminder of where we are though. We have continually been linked with the top prospects around the world, which didn't happen a few years ago.

• Spurs tracking Pinamonti, one of the brightest young prospects in Italy

We are now trying to attract the best youngsters and having some of the best training facilities in the world is a part of that sales package. We can't sign everyone and we can't pay top wages yet, but we can give the chances to players that other clubs can't.

It should also be remembered that youngsters abroad do not get top wages and moving to us is a career advancement, it is an opportunity to improve and get chances to play while still increasing their wages.

Davinson Sanchez and Juan Foyth are two such youngsters that we are expecting to develop into top centre-backs,while also having Cameron Carter-Vickers, so the future looks bright in that position, especially if their development is assisted by one of the best centre-backs in Europe now, Jan Vertonghen.

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