Toby Alderweireld has insisted that he is reaping the rewards of his spells at Ajax and Atletico Madrid while playing for Tottenham Hotspur.
The 27-year-old, who was snapped by Spurs from Atletico Madrid last summer, is a product of Ajax’s youth system.
After making his first team debut for Ajax in January 2009, Alderweireld established himself as one of the key players at the Dutch giants.
The Belgium international then joined Atletico Madrid in 2013, but failed to make his mark at Vicente Calderon and was sent on a season-long loan deal to Southampton for the 2014/15 campaign.
However, Alderweireld explained that while Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone influenced him the most as the Argentine made him focus on every detail of defending, his time at Ajax made him comfortable on the ball.
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And the centre-back feels his success at Tottenham is due to the different principles he learnt at Ajax and Atletico Madrid.
“If you look down the list of coaches who I’ve worked with, you will see that Marco van Basten is the only striker”, Alderweireld told Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws.
“The rest are mainly former midfielders or defenders: [Martin] Jol, [Frank] De Boer, Diego Simeone, Ronald Koeman and now Mauricio Pochettino.
“Even though De Boer, Koeman or Pochettino were top defenders, I never got into details about the art defending with them. Purely defensively I think Winston Bogarde, defensive coach in Ajax’s youth ranks, and Diego Simeone influenced me the most.
“The training sessions at Atletico were completely new for me. I came from a club where they played total football and where they encouraged you to find a solution with the ball. I’d never played football to grind out results.”
“Although I didn’t start every single game, I learnt a great deal at Atletico. Simeone taught me to enjoy clean-sheets. Or to take pleasure from a flawless game. Simeone likes to focus on every single detail.
“Everything is perfectly prepared for his players. During training sessions, he simulates every possible situation. It’s a drill. Defence against attack. What if the left-back has moved up the pitch, what if the right-back makes this move, what if there’s a long ball?"
Alderweireld however will not say his time at Ajax was better than at Atletico Madrid, or vice versa, as he feels he learned different skills at each side.
“I’m not going to say that one football culture is better than the other, but I think it’s good that I’ve had a combination of both. Total – and results -based football. Many defenders can defend well, but they maybe are not so good with the ball at their feet.
“I’m comfortable in possession. I always know what to do. That’s the Ajax school. On the other hand, I have those Simeone principles somewhere in the back of my mind.
“One of those lessons that sticks: if there’s a high ball, never head it down, always up. It gives your teammates more time to get around the ball. I got the best from both worlds and at Tottenham I’m seeing the benefit of it.”
Alderweireld has thus far made 47 appearances in all competitions for Tottenham, scoring four times and providing two assists.
