Alan Pardew made a personal visit to Holland at the weekend, but it wasn’t to check on a Dutch player, instead he was looking for a Belgian addition to the Newcastle backline.
Newcastle have been long time admirers of Ajax centre back Jan Vertonghen, but the Evening Chronicle is reporting that the Magpies are now more seriously interested in his Belgian compatriot Toby Alderweireld.
The main reason why Newcastle would switch their attention from one Belgian centre back to another is clear to see. Vertonghen is rated at around £10 million, but it’s thought that Alderweireld could be picked up for much less, even as little as £3m.
In the game that Pardew went to watch Ajax didn’t manage to maintain a clean sheet, but the Amsterdam club did record a 3-1 win against Graafschap, with 23-year-old Alderweireld in the heart of their defence.
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A right footed centre back who can also play on the right side of defence, Alderweireld has spent the entire of his professional career at Ajax after coming through their famous youth academy in the Dutch capital.
Standing at 6ft 1in tall, Alderweireld has already featured for Belgium 16 times despite being just 23 and has made over 100 appearances for Ajax in all competitions, forming a central defensive partnership with Vertonghen after Thomas Vermaelen left for Arsenal.
Alderweireld has previously encouraged his teammate to leave Ajax and join Spurs, telling Voetbal International “Tottenham Hotspur would be a good club for him [Vertonghen]. They compete at the top and in a beautiful league and also he would have a good chance to be a starting player.”
Is Toby saying that so Newcastle can sign him? After all, his second sentence applies to the Magpies now as well and he would be cheap at less than half the price of Vertonghen. He is known as the Belgian Gladiator, too!
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Why the good times are back on Tyneside…
That video has got to be one of the best I’ve seen in some time… HWTL…
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