And for once it appears not to be our fault.
Simon Peach is a journalist for Press Association Sports and is this evening writing up breaking news on the alleged transfer of Toby Alderweireld to Tottenham.
It emerged in the last few weeks that there was the small issue of a £6.8m buy-out clause in the 26-year-old’s contract.
As the agreement on the player stood, Club Atlético de Madrid were entitle to pay Southampton £1.5m as compensation, in order to cancel this clause.
However Peach believes that Atlético did not do so – not in time – anyway.
This is potentially a tedious business that could trigger a fair amount of wailing, gnashing of teeth and general horse trading. But only if Alderweireld actually wants to come to White Hart Lane.
Last week, Ronald Koeman told the press that… “The player likes to stay”.
Which, if accurate, hardly supports a player held against his will scenario. In fact, this may indicate that Atlético Madrid jumped the gun.
The reported €16million fee may well have been enough to make the Spanish pay more attention to getting the player sold than adhering to the fine print niceties.
If Southampton genuinely believe they are entitled to sign Alderweireld, then Atlético are not the only ones in a pickle.
Is this is a done deal?
Right now, I’d say it is not.
Cheers to Mysterious Stranger for highlighting this gem from a Belgian Football Journalist:
