From Danish Dinner to Inter Move: How Spurs Lost Control in Eriksen Saga

For Mauricio Pochettino, it was time for a charm offensive and the target was Christian Eriksen. It was shortly after the end of the 2017-18 season and the then Tottenham manager had agreed a new five-year contract at the club. He saw the Denmark midfielder as one of his key lieutenants, fundamental to the next cycle, and he wanted to tell him that, to make a gesture which showed how much he respected him. And so he headed to Copenhagen to see him.

Eriksen knew a place to eat. It was Bistro Boheme, the acclaimed restaurant of Per Thøstesen – who is also chef to the Denmark national team – where the Rossini gold selection caviar starter tips in at £70 and the wine list can be a lethal weapon in the hands of the wrong guest. Pochettino was accompanied by his wife, Karina, and his assistant manager, Jesús Pérez, and a very nice evening it was, too.

A week or so later, Zinedine Zidane would shock everybody by resigning at Real Madrid – one of the clubs that coveted Pochettino – and the Spanish club promptly made a move for the Argentinian, only to be rebuffed. Pochettino had just extended at Spurs and there was no way he would bail on them, even if he knew there were problems in the pipeline regarding delivery of the new stadium.

What Pochettino wanted to see from Eriksen was a similar commitment, although he did not travel to Copenhagen on club orders and he knew he could not force him to renew a contract which had two years left to run. Pochettino is acutely aware that players have to look after themselves because, once they are unwanted, their clubs will not think twice before cutting them loose.

Did Eriksen want to leave Spurs at that point? It is unclear. But what was plain to Pochettino was that the Dane was considering his next move and that involved putting into place a possible exit strategy, something over which he had control. It meant not signing a new contract. From that evening at Bistro Boheme, if it was not already, the clock began to tick loudly on Eriksen’s Spurs future and what we saw on Tuesday – his completion of a €20m (£16.9m) transfer to Internazionale – was the result of him having played the longest of games.

Eriksen joined Spurs from Ajax in what came to be known as the Bale summer of 2013 – the one in which Gareth Bale departed for Real Madrid and the club spent the £86m proceeds on seven new faces. As such, Eriksen has been around for long enough to read Spurs from the inside, to consider how they treated players and agents, and what the future held. His conclusions were not unreasonable. He knew the only way he would be able to drive a move away on his terms was to allow his contract to enter its final year.

One of the issues that came to frustrate Pochettino before he parted ways with the club last November was the inability of the chairman, Daniel Levy, to sell players and provide room for the squad to evolve. Prior to Eriksen, only two frontline members of the squad were sold in the past two years: Mousa Dembélé and Kieran Trippier. The former had six months to go on his contract when he moved to Guangzhou R&F for £11m; the latter had three years remaining when he went to Atlético Madrid for £20m, making him something of an outlier.

The market has changed and, for many Spurs players on good money, there have not been any buying clubs that can give them similar or better deals and pay a large fee on top. They have been stuck. Even Eriksen struggled to attract offers until Inter got the numbers to work, helped enormously by his contract having just six months remaining. Last summer, only Atlético made a firm move for him. What did not help Eriksen back then was the £130m price tag Levy put on him and, although it was understood to apply only to domestic suitors, it provided a high starting point for those in mainland Europe.

Spurs have now lost one of their most gifted players of recent years for a relative pittance but, if the end was a little sour, Eriksen leaves a wealth of good memories. Pochettino called him “Golazo”, a Spanish term that essentially translates as “screamer” – as in, screaming goal – and there were plenty of those. Since Eriksen’s arrival in the Premier League, no player has scored more goals from outside the box than his 23 or more from direct free-kicks than his eight. No player has made more assists than his 62 or has created more chances (571).

Those in the media became accustomed to Eriksen blanking them in the post-match mixed zone – saying nothing was part of the plan – and to pull that off takes a certain steeliness, which he has in abundance. Inside the club, meanwhile, he was known for his professionalism and consistency, with teammates respecting his tactical versatility, ability on each foot and stamina. No Spurs player would run further than him. Eriksen is the one that has got away.


(The Guardian)