Football Leaks has been creating a lot of storm in the game over the last few weeks with revelations about popular personalities parking funds in tax heavens so as to avoid huge tax bills. Another revelation from those leaks have revealed the details about Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld’s contract. It has been revealed that the player earns £2.61 million per year as base salary and it translates into the weekly wages of £50,000.
These figures fall in line with the transfer and wage policy at the club. Chairman Daniel Levy ensures that no player earns more than £100,000 per week in basic wages, while the club are prepared to offer significantly more in performance related bonuses.
However, one of the astonishing revelations, as reported by Metro Sport, is the fact that the player only has a £25 million release clause in his contract. The defender was signed from Atletico Madrid for around £11 million in the summer of 2015. Since then, he has gone on to become one of the best defenders in English football so much so that former Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand recently placed him on a similar level to Harry Kane in terms of importance at the club. He said:
“He’s a lot like Harry Kane in terms of his importance to the team.
“He’s one of – if not the – best defenders in the league over the last two years.”
The performance-related bonuses in Toby Alderweireld’s contract begin with the £5000 appearance bonus. This should give the player more than £250,000 just an appearance bonuses given that he is a first-team regular who can go on to make more than 45 appearances in a single campaign. Aside from this bonus, the player stands to receive a £261,000 bonus if Tottenham managed to qualify for the Champions League while Toby Alderweireld being a first-team regular (30 or more appearances).
Spurs recently secured a number of players on long-term contracts. Players like Harry Kane were able to renegotiate terms within 12 months of signing a new contract. Alderweireld’s existing contract runs until the summer of 2020, and it is highly likely that he may want a pay rise sooner rather than later. If he continues in this vein of form, it would not be a major issue for Spurs to offer a new deal to the defender.
Jan Vertonghen, Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Danny Rose, and Kyle Walker are some of the players who have signed new contracts with the club since the start of the season. However, major uncertainty continues to surround the goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris, who has just over two years left on his contract. Spurs may very well consider offering Alderweireld a new contract and any such announcement may come with Lloris signing the new deal as well.
