Rumors have been circulating the internet about Christian Eriksen going back from Inter Milan to Tottenham Hotspur, this is one reunion where Spurs should pass.
There is a report out from Football Insider, which everyone seems to be jumping on linking Christian Eriksen back with Tottenham Hotspur. The same Christian Eriksen who less than one year ago left Spurs for greener pastures. While one prodigal son came home for Tottenham this past summer in Gareth Bale this is a different situation, and one which Tottenham should ignore as a reunion is likely not in the club’s best interest.
Christian Eriksen’s leaving of Tottenham was quite different than was Gareth Bale’s departure and for that and a few other reasons, Christian Eriksen should not be brought back.
Eriksen Lost the Leverage
In the aftermath of disappointing events people say dumb things but later recant. In the aftermath of the Champions League Final loss to Liverpool in 2019, Christian Eriksen told the media he was ready to leave telling a Danish outlet he “would like to try something new”. In the business world of professional sports, a message like that, coming from a star set for a bumper raise, on a team that just made the Champions League Finals sends up warning flags all around.
Whether the issue is at the club itself or with the player, there is something going on and teams took notice. While, Eriksen later told the BBC he felt like a “black sheep” for making the statement, the reality is that he gave away any leverage and bargaining tools either he or the club had to make a transfer possible.
A player on the last year of their deal, who has said they are not going to renew is never going to get a big bid from a big team. Big teams like Madrid see a situation like that and believe they can wait. Why should they pay money for something that will come free in a few months? Of course, Tottenham is a business too and Daniel Levy wanted some cash return on his investment and it was clear in All or Nothing Eriksen had no interest in staying.
Regardless of how little time was left on Eriksen’s contract, at the time he was valued at nearly $100 million and Levy was going to get something back. Given the fact that big teams do not cave to demands and Levy was going to extract something for Eriksen, any chance of playing at Madrid disappeared the moment Eriksen opened his mouth and said he wanted to leave.
Had Eriksen said nothing publicly and only to the club, things could have turned out quite differently in terms of the return to Tottenham, which was only $29.7 million US, and the destination of Inter Milan. While Inter is a fine club, it is debatable how much of a “step up” from Tottenham Inter is, given their greatest coach for their greatest moment now works in north London, were Eriksen left.
Not the Same Player
Maybe the biggest reason not to re-sign Christian Eriksen is he is not the same player he once was. Whereas Dele Alli had a slow decline over a couple of seasons, Eriksen pretty much fell off over the last 18 months and does not seem likely to get back on track in Milan. The reality is Christian Eriksen may never again be the player he was from 2015-2019 when he really was a maestro on the pitch.
Eriksen’s Wonder Years
In reviewing transfermark.com statistics, over four seasons Eriksen averaged 11 goals and 17 assists per year. Before Harry Kane this season, most would say that is a tremendous return. Those four seasons represented three of the four double-double-digit (goals & assists) seasons Eriksen had for Spurs. He had a high of 14 goals in 2017-18 and an outstanding 23 assists the season before that.
It was that 2016-17 season that Eriksen was most productive with 12 goals to go along with those 23 assists over nearly 4040 minutes. He averaged a goal or assist every 115 minutes, which is just getting it done. Since that time, however, that average has gone up as his numbers have declined. Sure, he had more goals the next season with his 14 but had 10 fewer assists at 13.
The assists came back up the following season some as Eriksen had 17 to go with 10 goals, but over a career high 4129 minutes, his goal or assist per minute average had ballooned to 153. In other words, it was taking almost an entire half of football more for Eriksen to produce a goal or assist, which is a significant drop. Then came he loss to Liverpool, then his comment, then his play went from above average to something less.
Things Fall Apart
Over the final ½ season at Tottenham Hotspur Christian Eriksen became a different player, and the Eriksen of old has never returned. He went from a reliable player, staring 44+ games for five straight seasons to starting 14. He went from averaging over 80 minutes per contest to less than 1 hour. Compounding issues as Eriksen’s time decreased so did his ability to produce.
Over those last 28 appearances – which took Eriksen over 300 in his career – the Dane averaged a goal or assist every 265 minutes, nearly three games. That was a 150-minute drop from his top form in 2016-17. Additionally, Eriksen seemed to pick up a habit of getting yellow cards, somehow managing 5 yellow cards in his 1590 minutes, despite never getting more than 4 in a season while never playing less than 3800 minutes.
Maybe a change of scenery was necessary to get Eriksen back in the grove and back on track. While his overall first ½ season at Inter was okay statistically there were some other issues clearly afoot. Eriksen played in 26 matches, but only started 11. Eriksen was producing at a much better clip, scoring 4 goals, and adding 3 assists in just short of 1100 minutes. While still producing a lower than in 2018-19, only fractionally.
The problem was and remains that Eriksen just is simply not playing enough. Eriksen has made the squad 36 times and appeared 33 times since moving to Inter. He has started less than ½ of those 33 games at 15 total starts. Worse, Eriksen has only completed 90 minutes 4 times in those 15 starts being subbed off the other 11.
The first two complete games came in the first two Europa League matches last season; he never started in the competition again. And two were in Serie A last season. Maybe the most embarrassing part for Eriksen is the fact that seven of his 33 appearances have been for less than 10 minutes, including two 1-minute appearances.
So, we have a player averaging only 43 minutes per appearance this season after averaging only 57 minutes per appearance last season. That seems to be a player moving in the wrong direction. Add in the fact that both Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso are younger and rounding into form under Mourinho and there just does not seem like there would be any more minutes at Tottenham. If the lack of minutes is part of the problem, going somewhere where he will not get more would not help.
We do still like Christian Eriksen here at HotspurHQ and have some fond memories of some great times together. However, those memories should stay in the past where they belong, as Spurs, Mourinho, and the players that want to be here, push Tottenham toward glory together.