TOBY SURE TO STAY .. BUT NOT ERIKSEN

JOSE MOURINHO wants Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen to follow Toby Alderweireld’s example and sign new Tottenham deals.

Defender Alderweireld (above) yesterday agreed a new contract worth around £150,000 a week after pledging to stay on at Mourinho’s Spurs until

2023.

The Belgian would have been a free agent at the end of this season and had repeatedly turned down contract offers when Mauricio Pochettino was manager.

Vertonghen (inset, top) and Eriksen (inset, bottom) are also out of contract at the end of the current campaign.

Mourinho has made it clear he now hopes they both also stay. The Spurs manager said: “Toby’s statement for me was beautiful, simple, ‘I couldn’t be happier in another place’.

“In this case the family and the agents were happy to make the player happy. So it was easy. Do I want Vertonghen to sign as well? Yes. Do I want Eriksen to sign as well? The only thing I will tell you about Christian is that I would like him to sign a new contract. “Apart from that I’m not going to tell you anything.”

It would be no big surprise if Vertonghen, Alderweireld’s teammate at international as well as club level, did decide to stay on. He posted on a social media account a short clip of a smiling Alderweireld in a changing room, smiling and pretending to sign a contract.

Eriksen could be far trickier to persuade. The Denmark midfielder is understood to have made up his mind to leave and, at 27, knows he can get a long-term deal at one of Europe’s top clubs. Real Madrid, Juventus and Inter Milan are possible destinations and he can open talks next month.