Should Tottenham Consider Offer for Eriksen?
By Ryan Wrenn
The Guardian’s Rumour Mill reports this morning that Juventus might be about to spread their net in hopes of collecting Christian Eriksen from Tottenham. The club itself isn’t eager to let that happen, but evidently Eriksen’s agent is not ruling out the possibility.
In and of itself, it’s a rumor that seemed bound to happen. Last season’s Champions League runners-up have been linked with half a dozen or more different creative midfielders since the club’s sale of Arturo Vidal to Bayern Munich. It’s hard to imagine how any player – short of Juventus’ other star midfielder, Paul Pogba – could replicate Vidal’s quality. The Chilean has been perhaps the most spectacularly universal midfielder in Europe for the past few seasons, and Juve are set to feel his loss in the coming season.
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That they would perhaps target Eriksen in addition to Bayern’s Mario Götze and Schalke’s Julian Draxler as his possible replacement suggests that the club are looking for something a bit different than a well-rounded box-to-box midfielder like Vidal. They want a more advanced attacking presence to help supply their impressive striking trio of Maro Mandžukić, Paulo Dybala and Álvaro Morata.
Eriksen would do well in Turin, perhaps even better than he has in north London. His relentless energy and ability to influence games late on might actually set him apart in a much more languid Italian game. Several other players have made the move to Serie A from the Premier League in recent years and rediscovered their game, most notably Gervinho at Roma and Carlos Tevez at Juventus. Considering Eriksen is already in possession of a quality game, moving to Juve might actually make him the star he’s always promised to be.
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Juventus’ bid, should it come, would no doubt be fairly audacious. They are not hurting for cash these days, particularly after Vidal’s sale, and they’ve been frustrated in their attempts for Götze and Draxler.
The other side of that equation, of course, is that Tottenham are by no means thrilled at the prospect of selling one of their best players. Eriksen scored 17 goals and provided 10 assists in the Premier League over his two terms with the club. Considering that the Danish international is only 23-years-old, Tottenham can be reasonably confident that his influence would only improve over the coming years.
Nor are Tottenham so financially insecure they they’d need Juventus’ money. This transfer window has been a notably deft and efficient one by Tottenham’s usual standards. The club offset a good amount of their transfer outlay by selling off deadweight this summer. Unless Juventus’ bid is something truly exceptional -in excess of £30 million, for instance – Spurs have very little incentive to let the Dane go.
For the sake of argument, though, let’s say Eriksen were to leave. Tottenham would suddenly find their coffers well stocked for a move for a proper holding midfielder or a secondary striker to accompany or understudy Harry Kane. Rumors have been floating in the last week that Spurs are heavily in the market for the likes of Saido Berahino and Charlie Austin, neither of which would come cheap. Eriksen’s hypothetical sale would finance the acquisition of one of those players and then some.
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It just so happens that Tottenham is fortunate enough to have Eriksen’s replacement already waiting in the wings. Alex Pritchard earned a place in the Championship PFA Team of the Season last year whilst on loan at promotion hopefuls Brentford. He’s a year younger than Eriksen and shares the Dane’s durability and talent for free kicks. It’s easy to see him finding minutes this season even if Eriksen were to stay.
Tom Carroll and Harry Winks would also find their chances at first team action improve with Eriksen’s departure. It seems as if Tottenham has learned the hard way to always have depth behind your star players should a too-good-to-decline bid ever materialize.
In the end however, there’s no trading promise over experience. Spurs will – and should – in all likelihood retain Eriksen for the foreseeable future. It’s a comfort for Spurs fans though that should he leave, the club will be well prepared.