Ajax sell Eriksen & Alderweireld |

Ajax fans have endured a painful transfer window this summer, even though up to a few days ago, it looked like a successful one. Friday saw Christian Eriksen sign for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur on a £11.5m deal, Saturday morning came news that Toby Alderweireld was flying to Madrid to complete a transfer to Atletico. The Amsterdam club have made some good money on the transfers as both were set to leave on a free at the end of the season.

Spurs have been splashing the cash during the transfer window and have broken their own transfer record three times with the signings of Paulinho, Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela. Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen, who was also on Liverpool’s wanted list, has joined in a deal worth £11.5m.

The Denmark international moved to Ajax in 2008 from Odense in his homeland and has since gone on to play a total of 161 games for the Eredivisie club scoring 33 times.

Eriksen, capped 37 times by his country, has enjoyed great success during his time in Amsterdam. A main player in De Boer’s reign, he won three consecutive Eredivisie league titles between 2011 and 2013. The Dane was also named Talent of the Year and Ajax’s Player of the Year in 2011, and also voted Danish Football Player of the Year, the same year.

Spurs announced the transfer on their official website: “We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Ajax for the transfer of Christian Eriksen.”

Eriksen added: “Everyone has followed the development of Spurs and it’s something I want to be part of.”

The purchase of Eriksen is likely to take Andre Villas-Boas’ side’s summer spending to just under £105m in this transfer window and paves the way for Gareth Bale to join Real Madrid in a world-record move.

Spanish side Atlético Madrid are hours away from finalising the transfer of Toby Alderweireld. The Belgian international has attracted interest from a number of English clubs throughout the summer, with Spurs, Newcastle, Everton and Norwich as well as Liverpool monitoring his situation at Ajax, however he has chosen to move to Spain.

Last week, Ajax had accepted a bid in the region of €5m from Spartak Moscow earlier this month but Alderweireld, 24, also turned down the move to Russia.

Atlético are able to offer the Belgian Champions League football and his signing will pave the way for Martin Demichelis to be reunited with Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City.

Diego Simeone will to sign Alderweireld to a four year contract later today and may make his debut away to Real Sociedad tomorrow evening.

As for replacements for the two stars, Ajax have plenty of options but only a few days to make the signings complete.

In midfield, Heracles’ Lerin Duarte has been linked with the defending Eredivisie champions all summer long and he looks like the favourite to fill in for Eriksen.

Frank de Boer did enquire to Chelsea about taking Marco van Ginkel on a season-long loan, but the Blues hierarchy rejected the deal immediately, as they see the Dutchman playing a strong role in their charge for the English league title.

FC Twente’s Dusan Tadic was rumoured but Ajax Sporting Director Marc Overmars stated that the Amsterdammers were not interested.

In defence, Ajax’s purchase of FC Utrecht’s young central defender Mike van der Hoorn in the summer, has always being mooted as Alderweireld’s replacement once he moved on.