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Christian Eriksen to Juventus? Don't be silly.

There are a few reasons we're not buying this rumor.

Ross Kinnaird

Christian Eriksen is being linked to a move to Juventus this summer. Before we get into exactly where this came from, here are some reasons why we can nip this in the bud right away.

He's not a Pirlo replacement

Andrea Pirlo won't be playing at the highest level for much longer, but when he does, he won't be directly replaced by a player like Eriksen. Sure, it's possible that Antonio Conte has plans to switch to a different formation and slightly different style of play when Pirlo is no longer good enough to start for Juventus, but Eriksen would be a pretty dramatic shift. He's not a deep-lying playmaker at all.

He's not a Pirlo compliment or Vidal replacement

Juventus insist that Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal are not for sale, but they'll be tempted to sell one of them if they can get an insane sum in the range of €50+ million, which is entirely possible. They're two of the best midfielders on earth. But if one goes and Pirlo has another year left in him, Juventus will need an athletic box-to-box player to replace them. Eriksen isn't that. A midfield that includes both of Eriksen and Pirlo gets steamrolled in Champions League and against top Serie A sides.

The source is everyone's least favorite paper

I first spotted this rumor on Football Italia, which will run anything. They cite "reports in the British press" without giving the name of a paper. I did a few Google News searches for combinations of Eriksen's name, Serie A and Juventus, and found this post, in Italian. They site the source as The Sun, who have this post on Eriksen from Sunday. If he's linked to Juventus, it's in a blurb behind their paywall.

The last time we ran into The Sun, they were saying Jürgen Klopp is who Daniel Levy's chasing to replace Tim Sherwood. We also had some fun with them on deadline day when they said that Manchester United were chasing Andros Townsend. This stuff is totally worth paying for, you guys.

Nothing about this rumor makes sense. I think it's very possible that Eriksen becomes a truly world class player and ends up leaving Tottenham Hotspur for a fee somewhere between Luka Modric's and Gareth Bale's, but it won't be to Juventus this summer.