Featuring for the first time in a Premier League game for Tottenham since October 28th on Tuesday, Toby Alderweireld showed he’d lost nothing of his old form.
With multiple rumours surrounding the Belgium international’s future at Wembley, as newspapers send him to Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United or even Barcelona, it would have been very easy for him to be affected by it all and spoken out, but he did nothing of the sort.
This, alongside his performance against Brighton, impressed his national team manager, Roberto Martinez, who discussed the Tottenham defender’s situation, making it clear he was still very much in his plans for the World Cup in Russia.
He told L’Avenir: “His return to the competition on Tuesday night, it was a huge satisfaction. More than just relief. He showed patience, and his return was very convincing. It’s like he never left the team. He showed great maturity.”
Widely seen as one of the best defenders in Europe, Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to recently leave him out of his squads despite him being fit has raised a few eyebrows, especially in Belgium.
Their desire to know what’s really going on with their star, only for their questions to be met by either banal answers or a wall of silence has seen the media grow restless, hence the rumours.
We’ll just have to see what happens come the end of the season.
