Toby: forced Tottenham said it was strange to go to Manchester United; the players are not worth that much but the Premier League is rich.

On December 22nd Dutch international football reporter Alan Eliasy had an exclusive interview with Belgian centre-back Toby Alderverde.
(the following is an excerpt from the interview)
Speaking of your time at Tottenham, Mann Lenovo made you one of the most expensive defenders in the Premier League in the summer of 2018, but Tottenham president Daniel Levy objected. Shouldn’t you have said: arrange for me to move to Manchester United?
People mistakenly think that players have a lot of say in the transfer. We are usually the last to be told about possible deals, and that is the reality.
It was only after the World Cup in Russia that I found out what might happen with Manchester United, which depends in part on what I think. I keep telling my agent that I just want to focus on football.
I told him,’if a club comes, you can arrange everything and I’ll think about it.’ As for Manchester United, should I have been more determined? No, I don’t regret anything.
As a player, I spent my best time at Tottenham. I respect this club very much and it is obviously strange for a club that I respect.
But your failed transfer shows the evolution of the Premiership transfer fee. When you first made your debut in the Premier League in 14-15, the Premiership team had not yet spent 80 million on defenders.
This has a lot to do with the transfer of Neymar, and the transfer fee of 220 million euros has become the target price for each club to set the transfer fee for players. Are all these players worth that much? Maybe not.
But because of the overall broadcasting system of the Premier League, each club can get a considerable amount of money from television, so there is so much money involved that the best players in the world can be carved up by a large number of clubs.
You are a member of Tottenham’s golden generation, missed the title in 2016, lost the Champions League final in 2018, lost the Champions League final in 2018, and had to bow in the Carling Cup in 2020.
​ generally speaking, what you said seems really difficult to accept. But we did achieve a milestone. When I joined, Tottenham were a team that often failed to make the top four.
In my seven seasons, we have reached the Champions League four times and I will realize that very few players can reach the Champions League final, let alone two finals. And in the last game at White Hart Lane, we moved temporarily to Wembley, where we didn’t feel like home. Of course, there are also the changes brought to us by the new stadium.
You have experienced one of the best times of Tottenham in the past 30 years and are to some extent a legend of Tottenham Club.
I would never call myself a legend, but I hope they will see me that way at Tottenham. We have taken Tottenham to a new level and every player wants to leave something behind, right? I can’t believe that money is the only motivation for ordinary footballers.