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LONDON -- Toby Alderweireld is a doubt for Tottenham Hotspur's Premier League match at Crystal Palace on Sunday after feeling discomfort in his hamstring in Thursday's training session. Alderweireld has been back in training since late January after tearing his right hamstring and a tendon against Real Madrid on Nov. 1 and he has played 90 minutes in the FA Cup matches against Newport County and Rochdale. But the centre-back did not complete training on Thursday as a precaution and Mauricio Pochettino said he would be assessed ahead of the trip to Selhurst Park. "Toby yesterday could not finish the training session -- he suffered a small incident in the same leg," Pochettino said at a news conference on Friday. "We will assess him today and tomorrow to see if he is available for training and if it's possible for him to be selected. We hope it's not a big issue." "We need to assess him. Yesterday he could not finish the training session. We cannot decide anything. First of all, he has to be available for training and then we'll see for the game." Pochettino added that Lucas Moura, who played 70 minutes against Rochdale last weekend on his full Spurs debut, would also need to be assessed but the manager has no other fitness concerns. A source has told ESPN FC that Alderweireld's future at Spurs hangs in the balance after contract talks with the club broke down last month. The defender's current deal worth £50,000 a week expires in 2019, although Spurs can extend it by a year to 2020, triggering a buyout clause allowing him to leave if the club receives a £25 million bid before the final 14 days of the summer 2019 transfer window. Alderweireld wants a long-term contract worth closer to £150,000 a week, which would be in line with the top centre-backs in the Premier League, but Spurs are reluctant to break their wage structure for a player who turns 29 next month. "I am not involved in negotiations," Pochettino said. "I never talk about rumours, what the media say or what happens around the club. It is not my job and I cannot say nothing about that." Pochettino again described Alderweireld's compatriot Mousa Dembele as a "genius" and one of the best players he has been lucky enough to work with, comparing the Belgian with his former roommate Diego Maradona and his former Paris Saint-Germain teammates Ronaldinho and Jay-Jay Okocha. "I know very well him after nearly four years," Pochettino said. "And I told you and then some people use my work to describe him as a genius of the football. I put him next to Ronaldinho, Maradona, Okocha -- players that I was lucky to play with. "I think for me is one of the unbelievable talents in the history of football. Of course, always for him it was difficult to get fit. He always fights with his fitness. But now he is in an amazing moment and for me he deserves all the praises that people are giving him."
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