“Previous administration has contributed vastly in Spurs trophy drought”: Journalist claims ‘wonderful star now tipped for player of the year award after 2021 Tottenham exit.
Former Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton defender Toby Alderweireld is being tipped to win Belgium’s Player of the Year award after inspiring Royal Antwerp to a historic title.
When he left drew the curtains on a fine Premier League career back in 2021, swapping Tottenham for Qatar, Toby Alderweireld’s time at the top of the European game appeared to have come to an end.
But the assumption was that Alderweireld was done at this level, then nobody told him.
Following a Belgium homecoming, the evergreen centre-half marked his return to the Jupiler League with the most important kick of a football in Royal Antwerp’s modern history. A 94th minute stunner on the final day of the 2022/23 campaign secured Antwerp’s first league title in 66 years.
Alderweireld’s own ‘Aguerooooo’ moment, if you like.
And, as far as former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet is concerned, a place in the pantheon of Golden Shoe winners is the least Antwerp’s the evergreen centre-half deserves.
Toby Alderweireld excelling after Tottenham exit
“Antwerp won both the title and the cup. So you will probably find the winner there. I would definitely give it to Toby,” Mignolet, Golden Shoe winner in 2023 after a superb season at Club Brugge, tells Het Laaste Nieuws.
“He would simply deserve it.”
At the age of 34, Alderweireld captained Royal Antwerp in the Champions League group stages this season too. The pain of a group-stage exit offset by that famous 3-2 triumph over Barcelona in December.
‘An incredibly wonderful career’
“The Golden Shoe would be a reward for Alderweireld. (He’s had) an incredibly wonderful career,” Paul van Himst, the Anderlecht legend who won the prize a record four times, argues to HLN.
“When you see him play, he’s a weapon. Toby is a strong man who gives power to Antwerp. It is remarkable that his positional play is excellent in both boxes. You should pay attention. If he goes forward at the end of a match and they throw a ball (into the box), he feels where that ball is coming.”
Alderweireld scored a career-best seven goals for Antwerp in 2022/23. Almost as many as he managed (nine) in nearly 300 games for Tottenham.
