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José Mourinho is hoping Jan Vertonghen will follow his compatriot Toby Alderweireld in committing to Tottenham after the Belgium defender ended speculation over his future by agreeing a new contract lasting until 2023.
Alderweireld – whose previous deal had been due to expire in the summer, meaning he would have been able to discuss terms over a free transfer to overseas clubs at the start of January – is believed to have doubled his earnings to around £100,000 per week having previously looked set to leave.
Mourinho played down his influence in changing the 30-year-old’s mind, though he did acknowledge the fact Alderweireld has played every minute of Tottenham’s six Premier League matches since Mauricio Pochettino’s departure had been a factor.
Vertonghen has featured alongside him in central defence for the last four after returning from a hamstring injury, scoring the winner in last week’s victory at Wolves, with Mourinho clearly keen for the 32-year-old, whose contract expires in the summer, to stay. “Yes,” he replied when asked directly if he wanted Vertonghen to sign an extension, although the Portuguese was more circumspect over the timescale: “I think a player will sign a contract when the club wants – I am the club, Mr [chairman Daniel] Levy is the club – when the player wants, when the family wants, when the agent wants. If one of these parts doesn’t want it is very difficult to make it happen unless the player changes agent and gets an agent who also wants. But again, the most important thing is what Toby told [the club]: ‘I couldn’t be happier in another place’. Amazing.”
There appeared less encouraging news on Christian Eriksen, however. The Denmark midfielder is believed to have rejected a new contract worth £200,000 a week, while Levy admitted this week in an interview with the Evening Standard that he is “not scared” of selling the 27-year-old to a domestic rivalamid reported interest from Manchester United.
“The only thing I will tell you about Christian is that I would like him to sign a new contract,” said Mourinho. “Apart from that I’m not going to tell you anything.”
Victory over Chelsea on Sunday would lift Tottenham ahead of Mourinho’s former club and into the top four despite being eight points behind when he took over on 20 November. “The only thing that means is a better Christmas,” he said. “My feeling, my deep feeling, is that we are going to be there [at the end of the season]. But if you can be there on 22 December, I cannot hide that is a better Christmas. In terms of position I’m ahead of where I expected to be.”
Mourinho was full of praise for his opposite number, Frank Lampard, and was quick to dismiss any notion of naivety in his former midfielder’s young side, adding that Tottenham’s failure to win a trophy since the 2008 League Cup left them behind his former club in the pecking order.
“Chelsea are in front of us,” said Mourinho. “Tottenham was close to winning the league when Leicester won, was close to winning the Champions League last year, was close to winning the League Cup when I played against Tottenham. We are going to try, of course we are going to try [to take the next step]. It’s not my profile or my DNA to be comfortable with ‘almost’. I never liked very much the almost. But in the process of progression the almost is better than the far from.”
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