Toby Alderweireld hints unhappy Tottenham team-mate may be behind reports of Jose Mourinho squad tensions

Alderweireld: "Maybe there's a player that’s not happy and maybe he wants to say something?"
Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images
Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP24 January 2020

Toby Alderweireld has suggested an unhappy Tottenham team-mate may be behind reports of dressing room unrest at the club, and insists he would never have signed a new contract in a negative environment.

Reports this week alleged senior Spurs players have already grown tired of Jose Mourinho's outdated training schedules and are concerned about the direction of the club under the 56-year-old.

Club captain Hugo Lloris, who returned from injury in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Norwich, dismissed the suggestions as "completely untrue".

Alderweireld, who signed a new long-term contract last month, denied that the togetherness which propelled Spurs to last season's Champions League Final has been absent this season.

"For me, it's nothing like that," the Belgian said. "If it was like this, I wouldn't sign a new deal. Now, for me, it's all positive.

"I think we've been so consistent for the last four or five years, so it's a little bit human to drop a little bit.

"Not that you want to drop. But sometimes it doesn't go your way and we have to find a way to get back to our level. On the other hand, I think we are [joint] fifth now so we're not doing so bad. It's the next step that this club has taken whereby if you are fifth everyone is not happy, so that's positive as well.

The strikers offered to Tottenham during the January transfer window

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"Let me say so again: no negativity. I don't know where that’s come from. Maybe there's a player that’s not happy and maybe he wants to say something?

"It's all possible, but from 99 percent I'm telling you we're happy with the group."

Mourinho has established a reputation as a boom-and-bust manager, who can quickly sour the mood around clubs. But pushed on the atmosphere under the Portuguese, Alderweireld continued: "I can say with my hand on my heart there's no negativity.

REUTERS

"We have an unbelievable group. I think we have such nice guys. Maybe we are too nice! You know? That's maybe the problem. Everyone is very happy with the manager, the way we train.

"It's a very busy period, everyone is an international as well. From from the beginning of July and until now it's like game, game, game, game.

"We can't complain about training because there's no time to train! You're only playing games. I don't know where this has come from. I know everybody's happy with where we're going.

"Of course, we're not happy with all the performances, but it's not easy. I think [Norwich] is a massive win. Not maybe a beautiful performance, but three points. And that was the most important thing."

Eric Dier also had his say on the reports and Mourinho's training.

Action Images via Reuters

"Who is saying that? Maybe you lads [in the media] know – I don’t," said Dier. "But personally I have enjoyed [training]. I enjoy doing new things. It is always enjoyable to do different things and learn new things in football, so personally, I cannot say anything along those lines.

"Any club, when results aren’t going well, is not a happy atmosphere," Dier added. "But it definitely isn’t a negative atmosphere.

Getty Images

"I don’t feel anything along those lines personally and I think everybody has been training very well, training hard, enjoying themselves in the same way as always. Like I say, when the results aren’t good, nobody is happy. Only in that sense, though – nothing negative.

"The spirit has always been one of this team’s greatest strengths and I still think it is. I don’t think anything has changed in that sense. I don’t know what these stories are about."

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