Report: Manchester United 'Confident' of Landing £40M Toby Alderweireld

Manchester United are reportedly "confident" of signing Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Toby Alderweireld this summer and are prepared to spend in excess of £40 million to land him.

According to Simon Johnson of the Evening Standard, Spurs are prepared to sell the 29-year-old after failing to sign him to a new deal and are planning to move for Ajax youngster Matthijs de Ligt with the transfer fee they get for Alderweireld.

Johnson noted the need for Spurs to offload him this summer is more acute because of a clause in his deal that would allow him to leave for just £25 million next year, while Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona are also interested.

With such high-profile clubs linked with Alderweireld, it is likely United will have to shell out big money to land the Belgian, but he should be worth it. 

Superficially, it does not appear as though United need a new central defender.

They kept 19 clean sheets in 38 Premier League matches in 2017-18 and conceded only 28 goals, the division's second-best defensive record.

Manager Jose Mourinho already has five centre-backs in his squad: Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Eric Bailly, Marcos Rojo and Victor Lindelof, the last of whom only arrived last summer for £31 million.

However, United's defence is not as solid as it seems and regularly depends on goalkeeper David De Gea's heroics, per Opta:

Bailly is arguably the Red Devils' only top-class defender. Smalling, Jones, Rojo and Lindelof can all be fantastic on their day but are error-prone.

Alderweireld endured an odd 2017-18 campaign in which he suffered a hamstring injury, and Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino didn't use him much when he returned to fitness.

His quality is undoubtable, though, and he has been one of the Premier League's best defenders since joining Spurs from Atletico Madrid in 2015, per football writer Liam Canning:

A pairing of the Belgium international and Bailly could be indomitable.

It is far from a done deal, especially given a club of PSG's financial clout are involved, but United seem to be leading the race to snap up Alderweireld.