Liverpool should not just stand idly by and allow Toby Alderweireld to join one of their European or Premier League rivals.
Instead, the Merseysiders must throw themselves into the race to land one of the world’s outstanding centre-backs this summer.
The Mirror report that Manchester United have opened negotiations to prise the brilliant Belgian from White Hart Lane as Jose Mourinho once again looks to spend big to reinforce his team.
Intriguingly, it is said that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has upped Alderweireld’s price tag from the previously-thought £55million to the £75million that Liverpool paid Southampton for Virgil van Dijk in January.
One thing is seemingly inevitable; Alderweireld will leave Tottenham in the newly-opened transfer window after talks over a new contract reached a deadlock.
The Belgian defender’s current deal expires at the end of next season and it has a £25million release clause that will only become active in the summer of 2019 if Tottenham choose to trigger a one-year extension to his contract.
This summer is the last time that Spurs can secure a £50million-plus fee that reflects his market value as one of the planet’s premier centre-backs.
Liverpool would have to spend big to get Alderweireld, although Levy’s £75million valuation is surely pie in the sky due to the contract clause and the fact he turned 29 in March and spent the recent domestic season on the sidelines from November onwards.
The Merseysiders have showed they are not afraid of spending big after forking out a club-record fee to land Van Dijk.
The door has now opened to land the man who would make the perfect partner for the giant Dutchman.
Alderweireld’s form since joining from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2015 has been superlative and, indeed, Van Dijk, who has made a mightily impressive start to his Anfield career, cannot claim to have been at the same level.
The Dutchman’s reported £180,000-a-week wages have set a new baseline for top defenders and who can blame the Spurs man for looking at that with a trace of envy, especially as he knows Levy will never match it.
If you can’t beat them, join them, as the old maxim goes.
