Toby Alderweireld says "hand on heart" he always wanted to stay at Tottenham and never thought about leaving the club.

Alderweireld, 30, finally resolved his future this week by committing to Spurs with a new three-and-a-half year contract until 2023.

He said the appointment of Jose Mourinho as Spurs boss had been influential in ending over two years of speculation and emphasised his connection with the fans.

"I understand the questions were there but I never thought about leaving," Alderweireld, who joined Spurs in 2015, told Standard Sport. "I don't like to talk about myself but the only thing I can say about myself is that every game I do everything on the pitch that I can. Everything. I think that's why maybe we have a good connection, the fans and me. I'm very happy and it was always in my mind to stay. It's easy to talk now like this after I signed a deal but hand on my heart it's true.

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"Of course [Mourinho] is an influence but in a decision like this there's a lot of things to consider. You talk with your family, of course my wife. I'm 30, you think, 'Do I want something else?' The more I was thinking, 'What am I going to do?' the more my decision went towards Spurs. At the end, it was not a difficult decision.

"The connection with the fans was a big factor, big factor. From day one, it's a cliche but I felt home, I felt good. I think they appreciate what I've done for the club and I just want to pay them back with loyalty and with good performances in the next couple of seasons."

Alderweireld's new deal has more than doubled his previous £50,000-a-week wages but he could have negotiated a bumper signing-on fee with a new club had he left as a free agent at the end of the season.

The centre-half seemed to acknowledge that he could have got a more lucrative deal elsewhere, saying: "There's a lot of things: family, how I feel about the club, the fans, how I am with the manager. Of course, there's a financial part as well, so it's all small parts that make your decision. I know I can get maybe a different deal somewhere else but I chose loyalty, Spurs and football."

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Despite the uncertainty, Alderweireld form did not seem to suffer while his contract situation remained unresolved. "Maybe I'm unusual," he said after the 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday. "I don’t know what's in the heads of other players. I always enjoyed playing for Spurs, always. Even on nights like this, when everything goes wrong I try to put 100 per cent so they know I did everything for the club. And I'm quite a loyal guy. So if I'm going, it wasn't an easy step for me. I just want to be here for many more years.

"I think last season I almost played every game, this season I almost played every game," added the Belgian, who is the second Spurs player over 30 to be rewarded with a new long-term contract this season after Moussa Sissoko. "So I'm fit, I know they know I'm very professional. I look after my body. They have confidence in me and I want to repay their confidence."