Toby Alderweireld may have completed a dream move to Tottenham – but the Belgium defender could still be involved in a legal wrangle between Southampton and Atletico Madrid.
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The 26-year-old moves to White Hart Lane having spent last season on loan with Ronald Koeman’s Southampton, who had a deal in place to sign the former Ajax man.
Under the terms of the loan, Atletico could pay £1.5 million (Dh8.5m) to Saints to cancel that agreement but the south coast club claim that the La Liga outfit did not do so in time.
Toby Alderweireld at Hotspur Way. #thfc pic.twitter.com/OzGynbvq0u
— Hotspur Lane (@HotspurLane) July 8, 2015
“I’m very happy to be here and I hope to have a wonderful time with this team,” Alderweireld said.
“From the beginning I knew a lot about it (the club) from Jan Vertonghen, Mousa Dembele and Nacer Chadli. It’s nice when you join another club that you know a couple of players.”
Spurs also announced a deal with the NFL that will see them host fixtures in their new stadium.
The Premier League club are due to move into a new home in 2018 and will now host regular-season NFL games on an artificial surface which will be installed under the regular grass pitch used by Spurs.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have announced captain Mikel Arteta has signed a new one-year deal with the club. The Spaniard’s extension fits in with Arsenal’s policy of offering single-season contracts to their older players.
“He’s one of the leaders in the club because he’s the captain of the team,” manager Arsene Wenger told Arsenal Player. “I expect him to contribute much more than last season but he also faces a battle.”
Arteta joined Arsenal from Everton in August 2011 for £10m (Dh56.4m) and has gone on to make 136 appearances for them, scoring 16 goals.
Reported Gunners target Nabil Fekir committed his future to French side Lyon yesterday after signing a contract extension until 2020.
The 21-year-old scored 13 goals for Les Gones last season as they finished as runners-up to Paris Saint- Germain.
“This was an easy decision,” said Fekir. “This is the club of my heart.”
