The Mirror is reporting that Manchester United have opened negotiations over signing Toby Alderweireld.
The newspaper says that we are looking for a figure close to the £75m that Liverpool paid for Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk.
The price tag was believed to be closer to £55m but chairman Daniel Levy wants to hold out for £20m more despite the Belgian international being available for just £25m next summer.
Here is the Twitter reaction to the story:
Not learned a damn thing from Kyle Walker being sold last season…..
— Dan (@ElCapitain82) 23 May 2018
We’ve been without him all season. If we sign De Ligt or another centre back and the Toby money helps bring bale or martial to the club I’m happy with that. Injury prone and 29
— Alfie (@DiergonAlli) 24 May 2018
Losing him isn’t the issue. Making Utd better is. I’d take 50 from a foreign team than 75+ from EPL team
— TrickTrick (@TrickTrick85) 24 May 2018
75 mil and we buy gareth with that and im cool!
— MR MIYAGI (@mrmiyagi9962) 23 May 2018
They won’t let us have martial so why sell Toby to strengthen them it makes no sense Chelsea sold matic to them and look how that ended
— Tim Crann (@CrannTim) 23 May 2018
With Chelsea beating them in a cup final? I’d sell Toby for that
— jim (@jimspur72) 23 May 2018
I’d rather sell him to PSG for £25m than Utd for £75m.
— Robert Reed (@RobertReedUK) 23 May 2018
£175M minimum.
— Axemad (@Axemad2) 23 May 2018
As long as we get Martial as part of the deal I’d say it’s a good one
— richard perraton (@richies45) 23 May 2018
Dont believe everything you read in the papers
— Ian Meadows (@ianmeds86) 23 May 2018
so the team that finished above us get better and we get worse
— James Evry (@jcevry) 24 May 2018
If we got anything near that I’d be surprised tbh
— Bee Q (@BeeQandUnique) 24 May 2018
Verdict:
The Mirror’s “exclusive” has not been backed up by any other major news source other than the Daily Mail, who suggest the fee will be “in excess” of £50m.
For now, I would wait until there is a more reliable story before debating too much about the merits of selling Toby. His sale has been on the cards for a while due to the breakdown in contract talks, but so far there hasn’t been a bid from any club for the defender.