While manager Mauricio Pochettino has indicated his intention to stay at Tottenham Hotspur, another very important Spurs figure, winger Christian Eriksen, has indicated his desire to exit. The Danish superstar has enjoyed six wonderful seasons at White Hart Lane, but he’s been linked with a move to several potential clubs, including Real Madrid and Manchester United.
Doing an interview this week while on international duty with Denmark, Eriksen spoke of his Tottenham career with a hint of the past tense.
“I have the wildest and deepest respect for everything that has happened in Tottenham, it will not be negative, Eriksen told Danish outlet Ekstra Bladet.
“But I have also said that I would like to try something new. I hope there will be a clarification during the summer. That’s the plan. In football you do not know when a clarification comes. It can happen anytime. Everyone wants it best if it happens as soon as possible, but in football things take time.”
So there you have it- nothing is settled right now about his future, and it appears that we’ll have to wait awhile yet until we get answers. However, at least Eriksen is now openly discussing his future, as he refused to do before the big Champions League final. According to Football London, he even cut one interview off and stormed out after he was asked about his future.
According to AS, his camp has been in talks this summer about his potentially joining Real Madrid, for a transfer fee that could actually be in the neighborhood of a whopping £100 million!
That’s a massive pay day for Spurs, who have been cheap in the transfer market recently, refusing to buy a single player in the last three transfer windows.
Given the hardball that Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy is known to play in negotiations, don’t be surprised if Eriksen’s move registers a very high sale price.
Real will be looking for help in attack too, as they need to replace Cristiano Ronaldo sometime, and it looks like Chelsea’s Eden Hazard will be the first option.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.