Saint Charlie

Times says he will sign for Spurs and thats what he has wanted. Fair enough if true and kind of makes any of our clause stuff pointless.

Especially when the truth is he is probably happy to join either depending who offers the best deal.

Mail says Saints did know that AM intended to pay the cash but that it may not have been paid on time. Also says the Spurs deal still almost certain to happen and he was expected to hold talks with them tomorrow but possibly wil be delayed now. Privately he prefers a Spurs move apparently. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3150195/Southampton-believe-entitled-sign-Toby-Alderweireld-Atletico-Madrid-fail-cancel-6-8m-buy-clause-Tottenham-agree-11-5m-fee-defender.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Interesting this article doesnt seem to say AM were late, more that they haven't paid the clause that they need to should they sell elsewhere. Goes on to say we would be happy to pay up to 11/12m plus receiving the clause payment. Interesting also that the article states we have done most of our transfer business.

Of course we do. I was just thinking if it became a complete stalemate and delayed him moving anywhere then it wouldnt be ideal for him, but imagine it should be sorted fairly quickly either way given how much it seems to be developing each day! Becoming one of the all time Saints transfer sagas! Hopefully ends more Skacel than De Pedro.

Which part?

http://tottenhamhotspur.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/saints-consider-legal-action-over.html?m=1 This says Spurs have agreed a fee and deal with Toby and that basically our clause is all that is preventing the deal from being done. Certainly seems the timing ofnour leak was to prevent that deal from going through, it must have been very close...still could be. Possible too that it could be ****ing Toby off as he just want to sort a move out to either club, have to be careful we don't alienate him.

Surely we have leaked it to stop or at least slow down any possible Spurs move whilst clarifying the price he will be to us should he choose to come here. But ultimately Toby will decide and his decision potentially makes a huge difference to Atleti in terms of the fee they get for him.

SSN Reporter: @LyallThomas: PS At this stage Toby Alderweireld doesn't have preference between Spurs/ Soton. He'd be happy to sign for either; whoever offers best deal

TalkSport Moose reckons he is joining Spurs - which is a massive boost for us.

I'm not sure that will be the case. It is obviously fractious enough for us to leak this info. There will be a Saints strategy for doing so with this timing, including (importantly) the legal action threat. That suggests to me that the two sides aren't able to agree at the moment, and I can't imagine it is all that calm behind the scenes otherwise there would have been no need to leak anything. It appears quite a far down the line tactic to me, and it could either be a huge masterstroke or massively backfire.

Evening Standard Journo reckons Spurs might offer us one of their **** players to "remove the blockage" What a load of ****.

Plus I guess had they done it in time then we would have made another offer but we have no need to as it stands. The worry is that they will sell to Spurs before its all resolved, but I imagine now that will be hard as if our agreement is binding then we can ask FIFA or the FA to block the move. Either way, relations between Saints and AM must be rock bottom, so it won't be easy to resolve.

We aren't though. We are trying to stick to a deal that has been agreed and to stop a player moving to a rival. Nothing bellendy about that IMO.

We also knew that they would be recalling him, so in the spirit of fair play should we have pointed out their error? You can imagine Reed et al s******ing at each other as the clock ticked past midnight whilst Levy was actually speaking to them and doing a deal! Of course, if as many here believe, Toby wants to join Saints then he could help by coming out and saying that, but of course he won't because he is probably fair ok with Spurs too and they have shown they value him by stumping up the cash.

I'm sure we will have had the paperwork checked by our Lawyers before going public with this. Still hard to see how it will be enforced though.

Presumably the deadline was only in the last few days though.

Surely the timing of it coming out now is directly linked to the fact Saints believe Toby is about to join AM. Otherwise why leak it to Peach? Lots of games being played but clear now we are nowhere near matching the Spurs bid because we don't feel we need to. Hopefully the paperwork is water tight.

Seems very unlikely after this that we will suddenly offer double the agreed price to match Spurs offer. If we do match the offer it makes this threat look weak and then if he decides to join Spurs we lose any momentum legally. If we don't they will just push through the Spurs deal Saints also must ****ing hate Spurs.

@SimonPeach: #SaintsFC are expecting to sign Toby Alderweireld after Atletico Madrid failed to cancel the buy-out clause in time, PA Sport understands. Thats pretty LOL. Also would mean we would pay the cheap fee. Never going to happen.

We are obviously very concerned by the Spurs interest to resort to this. Probably also the situation Koeman was alluding to re AM being difficult to deal with.

Maybe our last minute play to stall the Spurs deal? Obviously leaked info by Saints which isn't our style. A bit desperate...

Threats of legal action a sure sign it isnt going our way at the moment and the relationship between the two clubs can't be great!

He said he is/was happy at Saints. He never said he would prefer us to Spurs or vice versa (at least not publically). He may very well be happy to join either club.

It was clear he was a good player.