Toby Alderweireld slams Tottenham players as ‘not delivering’ Romero, Van de Ven singled out | OneFootball

Former Tottenham centre-back Toby Alderweireld has delivered a scathing assessment of the north London club’s current predicament, picking out the likes of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven for criticism in a squad that is “not good enough in terms of quality”.

Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen formed one of the best centre-back pairings for Spurs in the Premier League era during Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure in north London, with the duo pivotal to the club’s run to the Champions League final in 2019.

However, since the Argentine’s sacking seven years ago, Tottenham have lost a plethora of elite talent that has seen them slide down the table over the past two seasons, to such an extent they now sit in the relegation zone with just six games of the 2025/26 campaign remaining.

And Alderweireld has taken shots at all aspects of how the club are currently operating, with Spurs currently working under their third manager of the season. However, it’s the players who are the main focus of the Belgian’s wrath.

“I think you also need to start looking at pure quality,” Alderweireld told ESPN NL. “What do big players do? What do quality players do? That is to be decisive at important moments, achieve your level … And that has not been happening all season.

“Players who were acquired for a lot of money but who nevertheless don’t deliver and not in just one or two matches or a period, but throughout the whole season.

“You just have to conclude that they are not good enough in terms of quality.”

Alderweireld also highlighted the staggering drop off in form of Romero and centre-back partner Van de Ven, with both players tipped to move on come the summer, regardless of relegation.

“I look at Romero, I look at Van de Ven … They just aren’t reaching their level,” he added. “Again, not for a period, but actually for an entire season.

“Then I also look at Romero who gets red cards too often, doesn’t make the right decisions and therefore lets his team down.”

With Spurs having moved on from both Thomas Frank and interim boss Igor Tudor this season and then losing De Zerbi’s first game in charge, Alderweireld insists it’s the players, not managers, who must take greater responsibility for the club’s downfall.

“Now you notice that the coach isn’t the problem, it’s really purely the squad,” Alderweireld said. “The quality in the squad, the responsibilities of the players. You could always put another coach in charge, but you notice that they just don’t deliver what they need to deliver.

“And that is ultimately just quality.”

“Structural problems” at the club have also played a role, according to the former Belgium international, who added: “It comes down to shaping the right people, the right team. And those purchases have gone wrong, and that has been happening year after year. So that is indeed a structural problem.

“I have also read that the club is run fantastically from a business perspective, but not as a football club and as a football club everything matters. Your value is on the pitch, and that shows what the club looks like. And that’s not good.”