Over the last 24 hours or so Christian Eriksen returning to Spurs is all of a sudden doing the rounds. In part, this is because of comments made by Antonio Conte, who said the following after bumping into the Dane at a hotel,
“For sure, Eriksen is part of Tottenham’s story. To come back here would be a good opportunity for him, for me, for the club. Now he’s signed for Brentford … only six months, and we’ll see what happens. (Guardian)
So, anyone reading that could be forgiven for thinking that the 29-year-old may make a nostalgic return to N17, however, anyone looking deeper into this will know that a return to Tottenham is very unlikely and here are three reasons why I do not see Christian Eriksen returning.
Ericksen is NOT a Conte type of player.
The Dane spent two seasons at Inter Milan and did not feature anywhere near as often as most people seem to think. In his first season, he played in just 17 Serie A games because he simply could not adapt quick enough to the way Conte plays. In his second season, he did play in 26 matches but was only a starter in 17 of those.
In total Eriksen played 1393 minutes in that season, which equates to an average of 36.7 minutes per game over a 38 game season.
Eriksen was never a regular starter and was never going to be and rumours were circulating at the time that Inter was going to sell him. Why would Conte want a player back that does not fit his system?
Eriksen is no longer the player he was.
Let’s be honest, Eriksen was very poor in his last season for Tottenham, he played like he was not interested and over the last four seasons, he has been a shadow of the player he once was and it is very doubtful that Spurs will get the Eriksen we all once loved, the idea that he will all of a sudden recreate his best days are for the birds. It rarely happens, Gareth Bale anyone?
Daniel Levy, finances and an Elephant’s memory.
Would Daniel Levy really welcome a player back that was hell-bent on leaving the club at a significant discount despite the pleas of the chairman as we all saw in that Amazon Prime series? This is not like the Bale situation when Levy managed to secure a world record transfer fee and was going to Real Madrid.
Levy will recall this for sure and that is where finances will come into it. the Chairman is almost certainly going to offer only a pay as you play deal and the insurance would be huge and knowing Levy as we all do, he will probably tell Eriksen that he has to stump up the premiums.
If Eriksen proves himself once again at Brentford and somehow Conte decides he wants him would Levy offer a massive wage to the Dane? Almost certainly not and the chances are that there will be other clubs prepared to offer a resurgent Eriksen a higher wage packet.
Conclusion
It is a romantic idea to have Eriksen back but we cannot forget that it was he that demanded to leave, that the club offered to match any salary he was offered elsewhere and the only reason he is in the discussion now is that hardly anyone else wants him because of the questions and nervousness over his health.
Additionally, I just do not see him being a Conte player, he was not really when they were together at Inter and I cannot see why it would be any different now.
And finally, I don’t envisage Levy sanctioning a deal and even if he did I do not see him offering Eriksen anything close to what he would want, even if he sets the world alight in West London.
Would you welcome Christian Eriksen back to Tottenham? Let us know in the comments below.
