According to reports from The Telegraph, Tottenham Hotspur are ready to push Toby Alderweireld’s price up to £40 million.

Alderweireld has a £25 million release clause in his contract that will expire on Friday. If that happens, it will be nothing short of a genius move from Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

AS Roma were reportedly interested in signing him, but the Italians cannot afford the fee or wages for the world-class Belgian defender.

Tottenham are yet to receive a firm offer for the player. Manchester United had previously shown interest in signing the Belgian and could move for him if they fail to land their first-choice target Harry Maguire.

United will have to pay an extra £15 million for the defender who only has 12 months remaining on his Spurs contract. Levy values him at £40m and will ask that price if his contract is allowed to expire.

It is a win-win situation for Spurs. If United fail to sign Maguire, they will have to overpay for Alderweireld which will be hugely embarrassing for Ed Woodward.

On the other hand, Spurs are happy to keep Alderweield at the club, although the 30-year-old has not indicated he will sign a new contract.

Some Spurs fans took to Twitter to express their reactions. Here are some of the selected tweets:

That’s the point

— Tøm (@TomCOYS) July 23, 2019

How about demand no fee n bloody keep the man

— Leo Daniels (@LeoDaniels7) July 23, 2019

From Toby’s perspective – he will either wait for some rather silly offer from outside or will have very strong position going into contract negotiations with 1 year left. So it’s not like something terribly wrong’s happening for him either.

— Ali (@TomasZvelebil) July 23, 2019

That’s RIGHT looks like we are keeping him

— Letlhogonolo (@ttlhogi55) July 23, 2019

He will be staying for the season. Leaves on a free to Ajax next summer. No transfer fee allows a bigger wage for him. Hopefully he can sign off his time with us with a trophy

— Wallhouse (@Wallhouse16) July 23, 2019