BBC Pundit Garth Crooks has suggested that he would not be surprised if Toby Alderweireld left Tottenham Hotspur this summer.

Questions were raised over the defender’s long-term future at the North London outfit after Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio reported that the Belgian had rejected a new contract.

Alderweireld has become an integral figure in Mauricio Pochettino’s defence, marshalling the back alongside teammate Jan Vertonghen.

He made 30 Premier League appearances, helping Spurs keep the best defensive record in the top flight with 17 clean sheets.

His performances also helped the club claim second place - their highest ever finish in the division, but Crooks believes that Alderweireld could be lured away by Barcelona.

He wrote for BBC Sport:

“I sense if Alderweireld were to leave Tottenham then he would, in my opinion, be the most difficult player to replace. I say this because it was in my FA Cup interview for Football Focus, before the semi-final with Chelsea, that I raised with the Belgium defender the issue about his contract. To my amazement he had not signed it at the time and, with Barcelona always on the look-out for top-class defenders, suddenly visions of him defecting to the Spanish giants became plausible.”

Spurs will be determined to keep hold of their best players this summer as they try to build on their second-place finish and take that step further to the league title.

It has been two seasons in a row now that Pochettino’s men have stumbled in the closing stages of the title race.

In the 2015-16 campaign, they handed the crown over to Leicester City early, and this season, a 1-0 defeat to West Ham United put Chelsea firmly in the driving seat.

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