Toby Alderweireld has made it quite clear that he sees Saints as potenially Champions league material and he has given the club a big hint of what they need to do to convince him of their ambition.

The media frenzy that followed reports that Toby Alderweireld would love to play alongside his fellow countryman Jan Vertonghen at club level were sparked despite the fact that the supposed quotes came from several different questions cobbled together.

But it appears that Alderweireld has been completely misconstrued by the media, they jumped to the conclusion that Alderweireld was hinting that he wanted to join Vertonghen at Spurs when in fact it was more likely that he was actually hinting to his present club Southampton that they should be looking to sign his Belgium International team mate.

That could well be the case if Saints should qualify for the Champions League and Spurs fail to do so, if that happened then Southampton would suddenly be a club with big money to spend whilst Spurs would be slightly more cash strapped given the expenditure needed to build their new stadium in their quest to emulate arch rivals Arsenal who have somewhat moved way ahead of them in the last decade or so.

Recently Alderweireld expressed a desire to stay at St Mary's beyond this season and that would almost certainly be the case if the club should qualify for the Champions League and with Alderweireld's experience in that competition he more than most at the club would know what type of player would be needed if Saints are to progress in the competition should they get there.

So could it be that the London media pack have got it wrong and that in fact it will be Vertonghen moving to the South Coast and not Alderweireld to London, certainly you can understand why they would think that, Spurs have often liked to shop at St Mary's a sort of footballing Harrod's when it comes to the standard of player that is nurtured at St Mary's, whilst why would Saints want to shop at White Hart Lane, after all it would be the equivalent of the owner of Harrod's shopping at LIDL given that Spurs reputation is the polar opposite than Southampton's, Tottenham havent quite got the hang of this transfer malarkey seemingly destined to repeat their usual history endlessly of buying at top price and selling at a loss.

That is why they are so keen to shop at St Mary's they are guaranteed quality and why whether its the playing staff, coaching staff, backroom staff or the turnstile men and programme sellers having repeatingly failed to nurture their own they look to replicate ours.

But things could be changing in the pecking order and to paraphrase Die Hard 3 "Last summer we had no squad, today we need to decide which squad we want to buy" and that could just be some of Tottenham's or MK Spurs as they will soon be known.

Photo: Action Images

superpurs added 18:27 - Mar 25 Oh dear... ONE season of doing ok and all of a sudden Saints bloggers are going mad Vertonghen will NOT be joining Southampton, this is a player that last summer was linked with Barcelona and Juve, hardly St Marys is it. Another point, buying high and selling at a loss?hmm.. Carrick bought for £3.75 million - Sold for £16 million Modric bought for £16.5 million sold for £40 million Berbetov bought for £10.9 million sold for £30 million Bale bought for £7.5million (After we settled early as the selling club were bankrupt) sold for £86million but yeah bought high sold low... I am willing to wage £10 with any saints fan right now that come start of 2015/16 seaon Vertonghen will not be wearing red and white, and more likely Alderweireld wont sign for Spurs either... and i would say chances are high that Koeman will be in Spain regardless of what he says now. Lets take a moment to reflect on the fact we have NEVER been outside the Premiership since its start, can you say the same? Also other than Bale, MoPo and Mitchell remind me who else we have signed from you in the past 5-8 seasons??!?!?!?! plus his actual comments were... "“I would like to play with Jan Vertonghen again,” said Alderweireld. “But a transfer will be arranged later, not now. Atlético will decide my future, but I would like to stay in the Premier League. That some of the big clubs show interest proves I’m doing well.”" i dont think he's talking about a team thats last honor was the Johnsons Paint..

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pintsizedsaint added 21:12 - Mar 25 Oh dear, you know you're touching a raw nerve when you get that kind of tirade on a saints site from a spurs fan! Just a bit of fun superspud, just a bit of fun... Still, it rankles when Spurs fan sites ignore the fact Alderweireld said 12 days ago that he wanted to stay at Saints. Not many have reported that balanced view. Truth is nobody knows what Alderweireld will do. I suspect that he is trying to keep all options open as per his Agent's advice. As you say, it is not set in stone that he will stay at Saints or go to Spurs. We must have the upper hand though - we are already £2m up on the deal so Spurs/whoever will have to bit high + £2m more than Saints are prepared to offer. Otherwise AM will not bother to break the clause in the loan contract.

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BoondockSaint added 12:32 - Mar 26 As opposed to this club: http://sincespurslastwonatrophy.co.uk/ Rumour has it Harry Kane was seen with a copy of "Castilian For Beginners" under his arm.
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