05 Jul 2015 20:24:17
Just heard athletico didn't cancel the clause in time and saints are taking legal action.

1.) 05 Jul 2015
05 Jul 2015 22:05:24
The best bit of this debacle so far is some Spurs fans thinking we are trying to force Toby to sign for us against his will!

2.) 06 Jul 2015
05 Jul 2015 20:51:55
Does that mean that we can buy Toby at the original agreed price?

3.) 06 Jul 2015
05 Jul 2015 22:36:36
Eds? I'm not quite sure I believe this myself.

{Ed001's Note - they didn't pay the money, it is now in dispute as to whether just indicating a desire to activate the clause is enough. Personally I think it will just end up with both sides agreeing a compromise.}

4.) 06 Jul 2015
06 Jul 2015 08:11:36
Supposedly Spurs are going to try and push through their deal today, as Toby is expected for a medical. If that's true then I would have thought he is happy to join Tottenham over us, no matter what we do at this stage.

If he preferred a move to Saints, or at the least considering it, then he'd surely delay or reject the move with Spurs, until he knew whether or not we would be able to sign him for whatever the price may be.

If things get really desperate I suppose we may try to get the FA to block the deal, but that would only work if we have a genuine claim that the player's registration is now in our hands. For that to be the case Atletico must not have bought out the pre-agreement at the agreed time, automatically activating the terms we agreed with Atletico and Toby last season. That would essentially mean Toby has already signed some form of a permanent deal with Saints, hence why we would have a claim to go with the fact Atletico did not buy out the agreement between the two clubs.

Strangely, I feel less confident about this happening than I did prior to this all being announced.

5.) 06 Jul 2015
06 Jul 2015 09:07:43
I think the likeliest outcome now is that Alderweireld joins Spurs while Saints and Atletico both try and save face with some sort of "good faith" gesture - compensation, perhaps an offer to loan someone else, whatever.

It's a grubby business, but that's football for you. They should've tried to convert Alderweireld's loan into a permanent transfer over the winter, like they did with Bertrand's. You snooze, you lose. At least then, if Atletico had tried to block it, Saints would've known where they stood and not wasted so much time chasing a transfer that was never going to happen.

6.) 06 Jul 2015
06 Jul 2015 09:56:17
Whatever happens Qwertyell don't think Saints didn't try every option to get him. I don't get why there's this conceived idea by a few supporters that we just weren't doing anything to try and get him early. More than likely we couldn't.

Perhaps in the loan deal unlike with Bertrand there was no option to negotiate before the end of the season. An international loan is different to a domestic loan, I don't know the ins and outs of it, but there's surely different terms.

Koeman when asked had been saying since about January that it was difficult, that the player wanted to stay, but we would see. At this stage of things it's impossible to judge why from a Saints' perspective it was difficult. One way or another I think we'll eventually get a Les Reed interview with the answers.

{Ed001's Note - Atletico were not going to do a deal when they felt they could earn more buying out the contract and selling him on.}

7.) 06 Jul 2015
06 Jul 2015 11:49:27
I personally thing we will still get him, but will have to match Spuds offer at least.

8.) 06 Jul 2015
06 Jul 2015 12:49:51
If that's the case Somebody in Madrid is getting the sack!!

9.) 06 Jul 2015
06 Jul 2015 13:20:50
It seems to me that Toby is 'happy' to sign for either us or Spuds as he really wants Premier League football - he enjoyed his time here but has Belgian colleagues at Spurs, so it seems that he doesn't really mind who he signs for.
On the case of the loan contract we had with AM, it seems that we are only after the £1.5m being paid to us rather than us insisting and invoking the original deal to buy him at £6.8m. The 'legal threat' is that we want the £1.5m before they sell to Spurs.

10.) 06 Jul 2015
06 Jul 2015 18:09:39
Sorry, u guys are not understanding, saints are taking AM. To court for breach of contract, AM will. Not want that, so will sell at 6.85mill us agreed. Got the day wrong, predicted today, my Bad :)