If Tottenham are offered anything less than £50m for Christian Eriksen this month, then they should keep him – even if it means he leaves for nothing next summer.
Eriksen’s importance to the team was quite clear even just in Saturday’s win against Aston Villa, when he came on in the last half an hour with Spurs 1-0 down.
I know Dele Alli was injured and Son Heung-min was suspended, but they needed Eriksen to get back into that game and for me he gives them something different to every other player in Tottenham’s squad.
playing the ball that led to a shot which did not end in a goal
I think Spurs have had a very good summer transfer window in terms of the players they have brought in, but it would change my outlook on the strength of their squad if they lose Eriksen – and certain other players – now.
The whole reason their Premier League form fell away in the second part of last season was their lack of depth. They have tried to rectify that, so letting a really key man like him go now does not make any sense to me, and any fee would have to reflect how big a blow it would be to lose
him.
I hope Eriksen stays, because he is so valuable to their chances of winning a trophy under Mauricio Pochettino.
Spurs might see last week’s loan signing Giovani lo Celso as a direct replacement for Eriksen, so they are ready if the right bid comes in, but they will be much stronger if he stays.
Lo Celso is a very talented player, who creates and scores goals, but it is asking a lot for him to come to the Premier League and immediately be at Eriksen’s level in terms of goals, assists and creative play.
Willian with 387, also for Chelsea
I still think Tottenham will make the top four if Eriksen leaves – they are better than Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal at the moment – but they have worked hard to get their squad into this position, and the idea is to build themselves up, so why allow themselves to become
weaker?
That’s the football side of Eriksen’s situation but of course the financial aspect is important to Spurs too – they have got a new stadium to pay for.
But he only has one year left on his contract and Spurs are not going to get the true market value for him.
|
Christian Eriksen – season by season in the Premier League (and rank) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Season |
Goals | Assists | Chances created |
|
2013-14 |
7 | 8 (=6th) | 68 (9th) |
|
2014-15 |
10 | 2 (=97th) | 84 (5th) |
|
2015-16 |
6 | 13 (2nd) | 115 (3rd) |
|
2016-17 |
8 | 15 (2nd) | 112 (1st) |
|
2017-18 |
10 | 10 (=9th) | 95 (2nd) |
|
2018-19 |
8 | 12 (=3rd) | 73 (7th) |
f they do get £50m, they will have done wonders – but any offers they get before the end of this month, when the transfer window closes in the rest of Europe, are likely to be a lot less than that.
In terms of the difference it could make to Tottenham’s season, there are other players who I would be more willing to off-load to off-set some of the money they could lose out on by keeping Eriksen – Erik Lamela and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou for example.
