Manchester United Reportedly Close in on £60M Toby Alderweireld Transfer

Manchester United are reportedly poised to complete the signing of Tottenham Hotspur defender Toby Alderweireld as early as Monday.

According to Simon Mullock of the Sunday Mirror, the Red Devils have struck a £60 million deal with Spurs to sign the Belgium international, with United unwilling to meet the north London club's initial £75 million valuation of the player.

Mullock added that negotiations have advanced in the past 48 hours, though, with Alderweireld set to make the switch to United in the coming days.

"Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, aware that Alderweireld was prepared to run down his contract before leaving when he became available for a cut-price fee, has now accepted that it would be better business to allow the former Ajax, Atletico Madrid and Southampton favourite to leave now at an optimum price," Mullock said.

It's added that signing a defender is the priority for manager Jose Mourinho before the transfer window closes on Thursday. Leicester City man Harry Maguire and Barcelona centre-back Yerry Mina were also named as possible targets.

Alderweireld appears to be the favourite to move to Old Trafford, though, ending a successful three-year stay in north London.

As football journalist Ryan Baldi noted, since arriving at United, Mourinho has spent a lot of money in an attempt to improve his centre-back options:

Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof have both been brought in under the Portuguese, and while each player has shown promise at times, neither has established himself as a Premier League regular.

Meanwhile, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling remain error prone, and Marcos Rojo is too unreliable to rely on in terms of fitness. So it makes sense for Mourinho to invest again in this area of the team this summer.

Per Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News, the links between United and defenders have been plentiful this summer.

Alderweireld is potentially the defensive linchpin the team needs. The Belgian is arguably the best defender in the division when he's at his best, able to mix it physically with the strongest forwards while being intelligent enough to cope with some of the quickest.

The 29-year-old is also a fine technical player. A trademark of his time at Tottenham has been his excellent distribution from the base of the team, which WhoScored.com highlighted:

If the deal does go through, it would make sense for all parties. Alderweireld fell down the pecking order at Tottenham last season behind Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez; getting that kind of money for a third-choice centre-back would be fine business by the north London club.

For United, the deal does represent something of a gamble. Alderweireld has struggled with injuries in the past two campaigns and turns 30 in March. Still, he's an elite defender, has proved himself in the Premier League and is undoubtedly an upgrade on the Mourinho's existing options.