Toby Alderweireld delivers honest verdict on Luka Vuskovic, Van Hecke, Senesi and Cristian Romero
The former Tottenham Hotspur centre-back has been speaking to football.london about what is going on at the north London club this summer
Toby Alderweireld has been speaking about what is happening at Tottenham Hotspur this summer in the transfer window
If anyone knows a top centre-back or a star defender in the making, it’s Toby Alderweireld.
During his career the polished Belgian won six league titles across three different countries, played at three World Cups, two European Championships, appeared in two Champions League finals and turned out 236 times in a Tottenham shirt. So when you want to know about Spurs centre-backs of the present and future, the 37-year-old from the recent past is the man you go to.
The Lilywhites’ defence is set to undergo some major surgery this summer for new head coach Roberto De Zerbi. On Friday Spurs announced the free transfer of left-back Andy Robertson and Bournemouth centre-back Marcos Senesi is expected to follow him through the door in north London.
Tottenham have also been in talks to sign another central defender in Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke. Senesi recently won the Cherries’ player of the season award while Van Hecke earned that prize with the Seagulls at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
“They both know the Premier League. That’s good, because I think Spurs now need stability,” Alderweireld said in part one of his interview with football.london. “They need to know the players can perform every week, week in, week out. They perform on a good level. Of course, a transfer to a new club, it’s always a bit different, but they know the Premier League and that’s very important.
“Because next season, it’s impossible that we go back to this [awful] period. So I think it’s understanding they are looking for players who are proven in the Premier League. That’s something they should do. They should have a little bit more security in that.
“I want players that the desire is there to improve. The best example is PSG. They had the biggest players. They won the French league, but never in the Champions League. They went back, sold their best players and went with people that have a fire in them.
“I can only speak from my own experience. We had people that wanted to improve – Harry Kane, Sonny, Eric Dier, Wanyama. There were players that want to improve and put the team as number one.”
He added: “So you might say ‘Spurs need to become better so we need to pay for big players’. We don’t need big players. We need players with big hearts who can improve and that’s something I really want to see. The team, the club, comes number one and that’s very important.
“I think with, for example, those two (Senesi and Van Hecke), they’re on the right direction to do the good transfers. To buy some players with a lot of potential from abroad, they need time and we don’t have the time now. We need to be there very quick to be ready and to get directly into the new season with points.
“Directly is not top three again. I understand that’s not easy, but it’s not like two points or something from [the first] five games. Then you get in the same thing as last season.”
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The knock-on effect of Spurs potentially signing both Senesi and Van Hecke is that there would be no room for the club’s rising star Luka Vuskovic. The 19-year-old centre-back is yet to play a competitive game for Tottenham but has had a season to remember on loan at Hamburg where he was named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season.
The Croatian teenager, who will play at the World Cup this summer, has clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich circling him and his value has shot up to become a £50million or £60million player, depending on who you ask.
Alderweireld came up against Vuskovic before he hung up his boots in Antwerp and he believes a certain former Spurs manager would have given the youngster a chance.
“I played against him in Belgium. He played for Westerlo. He was, of course, a very good defender. He was very aggressive in the opposite box with corners. So he’s got a good header and he has a nose for goals,” said the Belgian. “Is he ready? I think if you have a manager like Pochettino, for example, he gives players a chance. It’s possible.
“But then you need someone next to him. For example, I was at Antwerp and I played with Willian Pacho. Before I was there, he didn’t play one minute, but then I played with him and now he has won the Champions League two times. Not because of me, but I mean, you need someone who’s there and he can count on, because if you put all the pressure on him, it’s going to be difficult.
“But if you’re someone who’s a leader, a leader not only with talking, then why not? Why not give him a chance? He proved in Belgium he was good. In the Bundesliga, he was good.”
On the alternative of sending the young defender out again, Alderweireld said: “You can loan him again. He’s very young, so he has time, but the thing is, you have to have someone next to him who is there all the time and not this guy and this guy.
“He needs to be together [with a regular partner] because he has to improve, he has to improve by himself, but as well, you’re a team. At centre-back, I think Jan [Vertonghen] and me are the best example. We were one team and that’s very important.
“Even, maybe I don’t want to talk about it, but the quality of Arsenal at centre-back. Those two, they play together all the time, and they play good together. They know he’s doing this and he’s doing that. That’s the quality of him and the quality of him and they play together.
“That’s something, at Spurs, we need to get as quickly as possible to get a good partnership as centre-backs.”
Tottenham’s current leader at the back is Cristian Romero but the Argentine has been tipped to depart this summer after the World Cup. De Zerbi was unable to confirm at the end of the season that the club’s captain would be part of his plans for the future.
Alderweireld knows what is required in the Tottenham defence, as part of the backline under Mauricio Pochettino that conceded fewer goals than any other Premier League clubs for a couple of seasons in a row. In Romero, he sees a world class defender on his day but one who he believes is not always there in the difficult moments because of his decision-making.
“He’s an unbelievable player. Very aggressive. When he’s on his level he can beat any striker,” said the Belgian. “But on the other hand, as a centre-back, you need to see not only yourself, but you need to help the team, you know? And some moments with the red cards, moments that he’s injured – injury is not always, of course, your own fault – but especially the red cards and moments.
“The moment at Old Trafford, 29 minutes in and you get a red card, this is not possible, you understand? There’s a red card, if he’s the last man and he wants to try to tackle ok, but with a 50-50 challenge, then I think ‘wow, you don’t help the team in the situation they’re in’ and then I get a little bit of my doubts.
“Because if he can get all that anger sometimes in the right moments with his head, I think he’s one of the best centre-backs in the world. But sometimes those things, it doesn’t help the team. Especially in difficult moments, real leaders, they get to the level of thinking ‘now we’re going to help the team’.
“And sometimes we missed him. That says a lot, because he’s an unbelievable player, that’s why we miss him. But he wasn’t always there when the club needed him.”
Toby Alderweireld was speaking in association with BOYLE Sports 2 Goals Ahead. The early payout offer allows fans to back a team and if they go 2 goals up at any point during a 90-minute match (e.g 2-0, 3-1, 4-2), BOYLE Sports will immediately settle as a winning bet, no matter the final result. Go to BOYLE Sports for more.
