Toby Alderweireld snubbed Liverpool for Atletico Madrid

Toby Alderweireld of Ajax (in black)

Toby Alderweireld, a Belgian national, claims to have ditched Premier League club Liverpool‘s advances to sign him by choosing to join Spanish outfit Atletico Madrid.

The 23-year-old defender’s club Ajax were pleased by the deal Atletico offered and hence let go of the youngster.

The English club signed defenders Mamadou Sakho from Sporting Lisbon and Tiago Llori form Paris-Saint Germain instead.

Alderweireld addressed the media after his arrival at Athletico and said, “The club have been following me now for two or three weeks, and you could see they really wanted me.

“That is why I turned down approaches from other teams. Liverpool, for example, appeared in the last few days, but I had already taken my decision.

“The truth is that Atletico made a huge effort to convince me.”