Report: Real Madrid ending interest in Christian Eriksen

Want a spark of hope with your endless transfer rumor stories? This one might be just that. According to Spanish football daily AS, Real Madrid is backing off of their pursuit of Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen because — and this is a shocker — he costs too much money.

The report states that Madrid were hoping to snatch up Eriksen for between €56m-84m, but after watching Barcelona complete an €86m deal for Ajax’s Frenkie De Jong, they have pretty much accepted that a player like Eriksen would cost significantly more than that, and they are henceforth backing off their interest.

To which I say: duh! Daniel Levy reportedly quoted them a fee of €250m earlier in the window, and the idea that they’d be able to snag Eriksen on the cheap (even if he wants to go) is ludicrous on its surface. If a 21-year old De Jong can go for that much, expecting a player like Eriksen to leave for less than that is pretty hilarious.

So we should make it perfectly clear that AS is basically the Spanish Daily Star, and they should not be immediately looked to as credible sources of transfer rumors and information. However, it’s unusual to have a Spanish football daily report that a La Liga club, especially Real Madrid, is DROPPING their interest in a high profile target. That’s what piqued my interest here.

AS goes on to say that there’s interest in Eriksen from Bayern Munich, Juventus, and (excuse my snickering) Chelsea & Manchester United.

I don’t believe for a second that this is the end of the Eriksen transfer saga. We should expect multiple annoying reports about him leaving Spurs from now until he either does leave or he signs a new contract. Both are possible outcomes. And yet, this is a hopeful story! There are only a handful of clubs in the world that can afford the outlay to purchase Christian Eriksen outright from Spurs. The top two are Barcelona and Real Madrid, and it sure is looking like neither of them are especially interested. Even if Eriksen does want to go, if his options are limited it increases the chances that he may accept a new contract that will keep him at Spurs for a greatly increased wage.

Or he could run down his contract and leave on a free in 2020. But let’s not talk about that right now.