Alderweireld wants deal by 12 July

The Toby Alderweireld saga is taking more turns than the Tour de France with both Tottenham and Southampton confident he will sign for them.



We have had the Yevhen Konoplyanka saga where he agreed a deal with one club after another, signed none of them and then his agent father chose which one he wanted, ending up at Sevilla. The Alderweireld 'drama' of Atlético cancelling the buy option for Southampton was a story about nothing as Southampton already knew that was going to happen, as did everyone else.

Atlético could buy out a buy option and then sell to the highest bidder. The media have been discussing Southampton being willing to pay £18 million (US$28.03m - AUS$37.28m - €25.22m) for him for over a month, a spot of guesswork as to what the Spanish club accept.

While Atlético wants to keep Alderweireld and have held talks with his father, who is also his agent, they have been unable to convince him his future lies with them. He has hardly been used by manager Simone and was on loan at Southampton last season. The 26-year-old (27 in March) Belgian defender has made it clear to them he wishes to continue his career in the Premier League. He has also made it clear he wants to have moved by 12 July, the day Atlético start pre-season training..

The Spanish club have held talks with Southampton, those talks have now been put on hold while they meet with Daniel Levy today. They will discuss both Toby Alderweireld and Mario Suárez, let's hope Levy can pull off a double deal.

Southampton are reported in Spanish paper Mundo Deportivo to have offered a lower than expected figure, the reports suggest a maximum of £9.82 million (US$14.45m - AUS$19.22m - €13m). Atlético wants enough to be able to buy a replacement and the paper goes on to suggest £14.28 million (US$22.23m - AUS$29.57m - €20m) might be enough to secure a deal.

Mario Suárez has a release clause of £8.57 million (US$13.34m - AUS$17.74m - €12m) and an offer close to that is again believed to be good enough. That opens up the possibility of a double deal for around £21.41 million (US$33.34m - AUS$44.35m - €30m).

All is not cut and dried with Suarez either as Inter Milan are chasing him, they seem to be chasing every player we are chasing.