Spurs should keep hold of Christian Eriksen at all costs
According to the Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur are not ruling out the possibility of allowing Christian Eriksen to enter the last 12 months of his contract.
Given that the Danish playmaker is an integral part of Mauricio Pochettino’s plans, chairman Daniel Levy has relaxed his policy with Eriksen of not allowing the players to enter the final two years of their contract. (h/t Daily Mail)
Eriksen, whose current contract sees him earn £70,000-a-week, wants to double his wages to put pen to paper on a new deal at the north London club. (h/t Daily Mail)
As Spurs look to reach an agreement with the 26-year-old over a contract extension, Daniel Levy has slapped a mammoth £225 million price tag on him to ward off interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid. (h/t Mirror)
Eriksen joined Spurs from Ajax back in 2013 and has established himself as one of the hottest properties in the Premier League with his consistently impressive displays over the years, accumulating 62 goals and 78 assists from 252 appearances for the Lilywhites across all competitions.
Well, it would be extremely difficult to express his importance to Spurs in a few words. He has been instrumental in the club’s rise from a top ten Premier League outfit to Champions League regulars in recent seasons. In other words, Eriksen has been one of the biggest cornerstones of Tottenham’s rise to prominence on the European stage.
Despite not making a single signing in the summer, Spurs have once again excelled on all fronts. Pochettino has guided the club to the last 16 in the Champions League and the Lilywhites took a step closer to the finals of the EFL Cup, beating Chelsea 1-0 in the first leg of the semi-finals. However, the highlight of the club’s success this season has been their surge to 3rd in the Premier League standings and the Lilywhites are well and truly in the title race heading into the second half of the season.
And Christian Eriksen has once again been at the centre of everything that they have achieved this season. A faithful servant to the club, the Dane has diligently discharged his duties in the middle of the park, dictating the play with his technique, vision and awareness. He has been the heartbeat of the midfield for quite a long time now and has fared equally well in a No.10 role and also in a withdrawn role in Pochettino’s midfield diamond.
Eriksen played behind Harry Kane in the opening stages of the season to cover for Dele Alli’s injuries, while he has been shifted to a more dynamic role in the middle of the park alongside Moussa Sissoko. However, the Dane has once again proven his worth, operating as the main focal point of the attack and adding stability to the midfield with his flawless passing and distribution.
In fact, an influential player like Eriksen can bring the best out of the other players in the team as well. The resurgence of Sissoko’s career in north London can largely be attributed to the Dane’s reliable presence in the middle of the park.
Suffice to say, he is as important to Spurs as Eden Hazard is to Chelsea. Spurs haven’t been able to set the ball rolling in the transfer window in recent seasons due to their financial constraints and it doesn’t look likely that Pochettino will have much joy in the foreseeable future, with the project of the new stadium having already consumed close to £1bn. Bringing in a like-for-like replacement to cover for Eriksen’s departure would cost well in excess of £50 million, which might be beyond the financial resources of the club under the current circumstances.
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Hence, it should be a virtual no-brainer for Spurs to relent to Eriksen’s wage demands and tie him down to a new contract, which is quite justified on his part as the Dane deserves to earn a lot more based on his current stature in European football. Letting him run down his contract might prove to be detrimental to Tottenham’s plans for the foreseeable future and they should leave no stone unturned in holding on to their prized asset.
