Chelsea’s bid to secure the services of Toby Alderweireld in the summer were dealt a major blow after reports surfaced that Barcelona were about to join the race to sign the Belgian, but their interest in contingent on other factors.
According to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona, who remain very interested in signing the Tottenham centre-back, will only press ahead with a bid to sign Alderweireld if they’re unconvinced by January signing Yerry Mina.
Capped nine times by Colombia, Mina rose to prominence during an 18-month spell with Palmeiras prior to completing a £10.6m move to the Nou Camp in January as a replacement for Javier Mascherano who moved to the Chinese Super League.
Mina has made just two appearances for Barcelona in his first venture into European football and the La Liga side will use the next three months to judge whether he is good enough to make the grade at the Nou Camp or whether they need to make a move for a more established player in the summer.
In the case of Alderweireld, the former Atletico Madrid defender has been strongly linked with a Spurs exit in the summer revolving around a contract issue.
New contract talks between Spurs and Alderweireld have stalled of late and the Belgian is set to become a free agent in 2019, but Tottenham could trigger an option to extend that by an extra year which would, in turn, activate a release clause which could see him leave for just £25m in the 2019 summer transfer window.
It’s believed that the Belgian wants a contract worth in the region of £150,000-a-week which would shatter Tottenham’s existing wage structure but it’s a figure that Chelsea would be willing to meet. Both Manchester United and Real Madrid are also keen on signing the player.
