Following Toby Alderweireld's agent's assertions on Monday that he wanted Spurs to either give his client a new deal or allow him to leave the club, it appears the Belgian is already being monitored by some of the Premier League's top sides.
English publication 'The Guardian' reports that both Manchester City and Chelsea are keeping a close eye on the former Southampton man's situation, with a view to making a move for the player should the Londoners not meet his demands.
Alderweireld's agent Stijn Francis told the Belgian press on Monday that: “If you only look at his figures, Toby is impressive and for his performances, he deserves either a better contract from Tottenham or a transfer.
“Even after his injury he recovered. Tottenham’s statistics fell sharply during his absence. For a transfer, you know that he can only leave Tottenham for seven or eight teams and almost all the other top clubs are interested in Toby. There are not a lot of central defenders of his kind so they are sought after. But those clubs also know that they have to negotiate with [Tottenham chairman] Daniel Levy.”
The 28-year-old played 39 games last season for Tottenham in all competitions, starting 38 of them.
Alderweireld is considered to be one of the first names on Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino's teamsheet and he has formed one of the Premier League's most formidable central defensive partnerships alongside fellow countryman Jan Vertonghen since joining from Atletico Madrid in 2015.
The Belgian is currently contracted to the club until 2019, with Spurs holding an option to extend his deal by a fruther year. However, triggering that extension would also cause a £25m release clause in Alderweireld's contract to activate.
Given Tottenham's tough stance on transfer negotiations, it is unlikely that they would accept so little for one of their star men.
It is thought that Spurs are likely to open contract talks with Alderweireld sooner rather than later as they look to avoid finding themselves in the same position as Arsenal currently do, with stars running down their contracts left, right and centre.