Norwich City fans, let’s take you back to 2013, back when Toby Alderweireld had yet to move to Tottenham or even leave Ajax and was on the radar of many clubs.
That summer, the club had just finished 11th in the Premier League, and there was a plan to go from strength to strength to consolidate that position, with the Belgian defender top of the list to help achieve that.
A bid was made and subsequently accepted by the Eredivisie side, but a transfer to Carrow Road never happened.
The player’s agent later came out and explained terms just couldn’t be agreed, which led to Alderweireld eventually leaving for Atlético Madrid on September 2nd.
He then moved to Southampton on loan, which started his English adventure; one he is still on at Tottenham nearly six years later.
In that time, the defender has never really spoken about his failed move to Norwich, and he finally did so this week with Sport/Foot magazine, who asked him if it was true they wanted to sign him in 2013.
He said: “Yes, they were the first Premier League club to make an offer. I told them to talk to Ajax and my agent, but I can’t say we were close to a transfer. Not because I didn’t want to go, but because I left it up to my entourage to analyse the offers”.
It seems there was some desire from Alderweireld to move to the Premier League a year or so before he got his first taste of English football, but the move simply failed to materialise because what Norwich offered wasn’t up to the standard of what his representatives felt they could get elsewhere.
At that point, it would have been up to those in charge at Carrow Road to improve it, but it appears they never did, opening the door to Atlético Madrid, which subsequently led him on his path to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
