Quantifying Christian Eriksen’s complicated Tottenham legacy
Christian Eriksen never intended to spend six-and-a-half seasons playing for Tottenham Hotspur.
When Eriksen signed for the club from Ajax, in the summer of 2013, he envisaged soon being allowed to leave for Barcelona or Real Madrid, encouraged by the recent departures of both Luka Modrić and Gareth Bale. A year later, he happily told a Danish newspaper of his “secret plan” to leave Spurs. Shortly after, his agent began briefing of interest from Spain. And last summer, with time beginning to run out, he finally went public with his long-held desire for “a new challenge”.
Spurs knew of Eriksen’s ambition, from his first day in north London to the last. His candour after last summer’s Champions League final came as a surprise to nobody at the club. Eriksen signed a new four-year deal in September 2016, at £70,000 per week, and by the time the club were ready to incrementally increase this along with their other top-earners the goalposts had shifted. Eriksen was worth considerably more and the club were not prepared to break their wage ceiling. Deadlock.
That does not mean Eriksen is disloyal. Or ungrateful. Or greedy. Or any of the other insults that have been thrown his way by a small but vocal group of supporters in recent weeks. It is simply Levynomics in action. “[Eriksen] has always been honest with the club,” one source close to the player told The Independent earlier this season. “He has long since proven his loyalty by turning down so many opportunities to leave.”
Last summer, Eriksen snubbed a transfer to Manchester United as he held out for his long-desired move to Spain. It never transpired. Whether Inter Milan is the step up in quality that Eriksen has craved is, ultimately, debatable, but it certainly sweetens the deal that his basic salary will now be doubled, with Inter benefitting from the impact of Italy’s recently introduced ‘Beckham Law’, which grants foreign footballers lucrative financial tax incentives. And, above all else, it will be fascinating to see how Eriksen — composed, unhurried, aloof — handles himself amid the madness and machismo of Serie A, European football’s most fervid battleground.
Tottenham will not find it easy to replace him. He does not leave behind a hole in their midfield so much as a hole in the heart: for half a decade he has been the beating pulse of the greatest Spurs team in the modern era, deftly tapping out the propulsive rhythms that have carried this side to ever more improbable destinations. Mauricio Pochettino saw it differently, once describing Eriksen as Tottenham’s “brain”, understanding events on the pitch better than any other player. In the end, the problem for Tottenham was that he had an acute understanding of how they worked off it, too. Like Toby Alderweireld – who waited until last month before extending the initial £50,000 per week contract he signed with the club – Eriksen and his advisers realised that Levy’s hardline approach to contract negotiation could effectively be ‘waited out’ simply by rejecting the incremental increases.
When the hurt subsides and Spurs supporters start reminiscing, they will not struggle for standout memories, some of which are shown on the giant screens at the new stadium before every home game. Clinical performances against Chelsea, home and away. A lightning-quick strike to stun Manchester United, in 2018. A virtuoso performance in the Champions League at Juventus. Or any single one of the sweetly-struck free-kicks: against West Bromwich Albion, Dnipro, Benfica, Sheffield United, Newcastle United, Swansea, Juve, Everton and — only a few days ago — Norwich City.
But to remember only the individual moments is to fundamentally misunderstand what made Eriksen so valuable to Spurs. Because Eriksen was their conductor, creative-general and decision-maker. Under Pochettino, whether playing in a 3-4-2-1 or 4-2-3-1, Eriksen’s role was to linger imperiously in the eye of the storm: seeing or sensing everything of importance on the field. To evaluate the situation, think two or three steps ahead and then execute the correct action. The type of action that talented opponents do not expect and supporters cannot even see: the type that makes you wonder how you can spend a lifetime watching and thinking about football and still not have a clue.
Precious few players are capable of that. Eriksen is. Only an idiot would think Tottenham are better off without him.
Of course he had his faults. What player doesn’t? Setting aside those free-kick goals, his set-piece delivery was repeatedly poor. His form fluctuated regularly and exasperatingly. And, from the moment he arrived from the rather more refined Eredivisie, he had a habit of pulling out of tackles he suspected he would not win, to the appreciable disgust of a home crowd. But then judging Eriksen on his appetite for a full-blooded 50-50 would be as fruitless as arguing Mike Tyson did not deserve to be the heavyweight champion of the world because his footwork was a touch sluggish.
Tottenham have done their best to make up for his departure. It took seven players to replace Bale; Spurs hope it will take just four to replace Eriksen. Steven Bergwijn — on the verge of signing from PSV — will be expected to replicate his deep-lying goal threat. Tanguy Ndombele his control. Gedson Fernandes his incision. And Giovani Lo Celso all three of those things and more. It is no coincidence that news of the Argentine’s permanent signing was held to coincide with Inter’s announcement that they had finally captured Eriksen. The pressure is now on the 23-year-old to continue the bright start he has made to his time playing under José Mourinho.
But Tottenham will be very, very lucky if any of those four players go on to make a similar impact on the club as Eriksen. He is Tottenham’s second greatest player of the last decade, behind only Harry Kane, and far more influential for a longer period than either Modrić or Bale. After all, neither of those players helped steer Tottenham to a Champions League final. A truly world-class playmaker, Eriksen has helped to fundamentally change Tottenham Hotspur both on and off the pitch.
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