Section:GDN 1N PaGe:47 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 18:04 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •4747Eriksen’s state
of limbo is an
issue Spurs
cannot duck
A
ston Villa ought to feel
fl attered. Following
Christian Eriksen’s
match-winning
cameo from the
substitutes’ bench
against the newly promoted side on
Saturday a list of pundits from Jamie
Redknapp to Pascal Chimbonda
have warned Tottenham that if
they lose the infl uential midfi elder
this season, that elusive fi rst trophy
under Mauricio Pochettino may
never come about.
Pochettino himself has spoken
of his frustration at the English
transfer window closing while
a player such as Eriksen is still
available for the next couple of
weeks should Real Madrid renew
their interest, and in support of their
manager’s position Tottenham are
understood to be willing to double
the Dane’s wages if he will sign a
new contract. It is unlikely to have
taken a second-half intervention
against a tiring Villa side to alert
Spurs to the value of Eriksen; the
club are only too aware that he is
now entering the fi nal year of his
contract and could talk to potential
suitors about leaving on a free as
early as January.
Should Eriksen run his contract
down Juventus could be a likely
destination. The patient Italian
club have made picking up quality
players for next to nothing their
modus operandi in recent years,
and there is no doubt that Eriksen
is good enough to follow the route
taken by Paul Pogba, Aaron Ramsey
and Emre Can out of English
football in the past. That would be a
disappointment for Spurs and their
hard-nosed chairman, Daniel Levy,
as selling Eriksen to Real Madrid
before the European window closes
on 2 September would be preferable
to losing such an important player
for nothing.
Three options are open to Eriksen,
who has said he feels ready for a
new challenge. He can stay where
he is for more money ; wait until
the end of the season to leave on
a free ; or consider any off er that
comes in over the next two weeks.
The trouble with the third optionis that it is not really an option at
all until Real Madrid or someone
else make a move. While it is likely
that initial discussions have taken
place at some level behind the
scenes, with Real Madrid adopting
their usual ploy of letting the world
know they are interested in signing
a player then going quiet on the
matter as the deadline approaches,
the long-mooted move to Spain
is for the moment out of the
player’s hands.
Despite the handsome off er of
a new contract, Spurs would not
really expect to be able to fi ght off
a serious bid from Real Madrid,
should one materialise. Eriksen
has been at Tottenham for six years
and anyone could understand a
27-year-old fi nding it hard to turn
down a move to the Bernabéu. From
a purely fi nancial point of view a
fi rm cash off er from the Spanish
giants would suit everyone best
apart from Pochettino , even if Spurs
wish to be seen to be trying their
utmost to keep the player, but will
one arrive now Real appear to have
cooled their interest?
Still in the market for Pogba,
on whom Zinedine Zidane is
thought to be more keen, Real are
not in desperate need of midfi eld
reinforcement, and why should
they pay out now for a player who
will be available for nothing nextseason? Even were Eriksen to
sign a new contract at Spurs it is
believed he would insert a clause
enabling him to move to Spain or
Italy should an off er of a certain size
come in – yet though that would
earn him a substantial pay rise and
represent the best of all worlds
for the individual, the scenario
is nowhere near as attractive to
potential foreign buyers as biding
their time and talking to him as a
free agent in January.W
hat should a
club such as
Tottenham do in
these situations?
Resign
themselves
to losing the player is usually the
answer. Ian Wright has said Spurs
need to do something to prevent
key players leaving for nothing,
without off ering any advice as to
the best way of achieving that aim.
A footballer who enters the last
year of his contract having resisted
invitations to sign a new deal has
probably made up his mind already,
and the increased wages presently
being bandied about are most
likely just window dressing for
public consumption.
Tottenham will either lose
Eriksen for a sum of money or they
will get another season out of him
on his present terms. There is no
suggestion that he intends to sulk
or cause problems if he has to stay
another year in London. That is
not the worst set of circumstances
a club could be faced with, and
Tottenham need to fi nd a way to
make the best of it then move on.
That seems to be what the player
hopes to do, but players are not the
only party who can be invigorated
by new challenges. The challenge for
Spurs at the moment is to show that
no one is irreplaceable, not even a
playmaker of Eriksen’s class.Club face familiar dilemma
over a player who remains a
vital part of the side despite
edging ever closer to the exitPaul Wilson Christian
Eriksen could
still attract
a major bid
from Europe
this month – or
depart for free in
a year’s time
JULIAN FINNEY/
GETTY IMAGESZinedine Zidane is
thought to be an
admirer of Paul PogbaРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS