he's better than Lallana. There's not an english premium but there is an everybody getting a lot more revenue than before premium and probably a more teams would like to sign him premium.
"As a player myself, I have never been blessed with great speed or strength, so it's all down to technical ability and movement.
not a lot like vardy then.
if he's no physical specimen at that level, he'll be like lee trundle above league one.
in one respect i can see a player under contract with he club being less incentivised to **** off elsewhere.
if i look at it from alderweireld's perspective, southampton needed to spend most of the summer transfer budget to stand still, while joining tottenham meaningfully improved them.
I think three inches is quite a bit. 6'1 puts you on the same level as many and shorter than quite a few forwards these days. The few strikers on the same level or taller than VVD are likely to be immobile as most defenders in his height class.
VVD's other notable virtue in addition to his physically imposing frame is his mobility and ability to stride effortlessly across the pitch. It reminds me of observations about Rory Delap back in the day.
I tend to agree that we couldn't have expected any better with Alderweireld instead. It would have been amazing to have both. We don't know that is was one or the other, though given the price and our overall spending it seems overwhelmingly likely.