Welcome to another episode of “Where are they now?” where I take a look at what former Tottenham players are up to these days. I was going to do a post about someone else, but then I saw a tweet that claimed Toby Alderweireld was retiring from club football at the end of the season.
While I couldn’t find anything on his retirement plans (non not retirement plans), it did have me going down a Belgian/Dutch rabbithole on his current whereabouts. After some digging I found a recent interview he did.
The Spurs legend told Belgian media outlet VRT that he left the national team after an episode where he suffered a panic attack. He told VRT the incident occurred the morning after a cup defeat to Union.
“When I was in the car, my heart suddenly started beating at a rate of a thousand an hour. I thought: I’m going to have a heart attack. I’m done for, I’m never going to see my children again. I pulled over, walked into a furniture store and asked if they could call 911.
“It turned out that all the stress made my heart pound. That gave me a panic attack, which made my heart beat even faster. You actually drive yourself crazy. And at a certain point you think you’re going to have a heart attack and die.”
I don’t know what’s next for Alderweireld, but he was honoured by Belgium during their most recent international fixture period:
Alderweireld still captains Royal Antwerp, his hometown club, which sits second in the table behind Genk.
He’s also got a really cool tattoo of the Antwerp cathedral on his forearm.
This hoddle completes the sequel to the Belgian-themed “Where are they now?” hoddles after looking at Jan Vertonghen in June.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Stepping Through Shadow, by Menahan Street Band
And now for your links:
Harry Kane statue revealed five years after it was commissioned
San Marino promoted in Nations League after first ever away win
