Belgian happy to have chosen Atletico move.
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New Atletico Madrid signing Toby Alderweireld has revealed that he turned down approaches from a number of clubs, including Liverpool, before joining the Spanish club, the Daily Star reports.
The 24-year-old, who moved to La Liga from Eredivisie giants Ajax, is widely regarded as one of the top defensive prospects in the game at the moment, and had attracted a large amount of interest from several Premier League sides for much of this summer.
The Belgian international said that, in the end, it was the determination of Atletico to land him that persuaded him the move to Spain was the right one, and mentioned Liverpool as one club that tried to change his mind towards the end of the transfer window.
“The club have been following me now for two or three weeks, and you could see they really wanted me,” he said.
“That is why I turned down approaches from other teams.
“Liverpool, for example, appeared in the last few days, but the truth is that Atletico made a huge effort to convince me.”
In the end, Liverpool solved their defensive problems with the signings of Mamadou Sakho from PSG and Tiago Ilori from Sporting Lisbon, giving them a stronger depth at the back after losing Sebastian Coates and Kolo Toure to injuries.
Alderweireld is a much-needed signing for Atletico manager Diego Simeone, who rather bizarrely lost Martin Demichelis to Manchester City late in the transfer window, having only signed him from Malaga earlier the same summer.