Real Madrid turn sights away from Christian Eriksen

Things may not be all doom and gloom regarding Christian Eriksen after all.

The summer transfer window is set to be a busy one for Tottenham Hotspur. With the stadium fiasco in the rear view mirror and a Champions League semi-final on the horizon, the north London club is surely looking attractive for players across the world. Christian Eriksen is one of the many storylines involving Spurs this summer, and while a lot of us are preparing for life without the Great Dane, a report from The Times in London suggest that this may not be a slam dunk just yet.

The article is pay-walled (you can get a 30 day trial by signing up) so we’ll focus on the primary talking points.

The 27-year-old, who is valued at about £60 million, will enter the final year of his contract in July and has attracted interest from the world’s biggest clubs. Real had been favourites to land Eriksen but have now made it their priority to try to sign Eden Hazard and Paul Pogba instead. The Chelsea and Manchester United players could cost the Spanish club more than £200 million in total.

Real Madrid have made it perfectly clear that they are doing a massive overhaul this summer and will probably spend north of that £200m pretty easily. Eden Hazard has not been shy about his contract situation at Chelsea and wants a change of scenery. Paul Pogba appears to want out at Manchester United as they look to be all but done in the race for top four and will settled for Europa League next season. If Real land both of them, Eriksen may stay at Tottenham by default.

Tottenham are expected to step up contract talks with the midfielder after failing with negotiations last season. The club will not allow him to run down his deal and leave as a free agent in June 2020 and would demand a transfer fee of about £60 million to sell him this summer. The north London club have watched James Maddison, who joined Leicester City from Norwich City for £20 million last summer, with a view to him replacing Eriksen.

Let’s talk about those negotiations. Most reports that have come out this year regarding the contract talks have been open and positive, with Eriksen basically saying he loves the club and is very happy in London. The caveat is that he has talked about his secret plan for his career and it probably means trying to play for one of the few mega-clubs in Europe. You can’t blame the guy for maximizing his earnings and accolades, and we’ve been lucky to have him. James Maddison would be a fine player to pick up if Eriksen does leave but he’s going to cost £50m because of his age and the English premium.

While this report also suggests that Daniel Levy isn’t going to run his contract down, I cannot see him selling to anyone in the Premier League. There haven’t been any links to Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich or Juventus that are reputable, so that leaves the Spanish giants. Barcelona landed Frenkie de Jong so that all but eliminates them from interest.

Eriksen signed a five-year contract when he moved from Ajax in 2013 and a revised four-year deal in 2016, which increased his wage from £35,000 a week to £70,000 a week. Despite being the club’s main playmaker, Eriksen earns less than many of his team-mates. Harry Kane is the club’s top earner on about £150,000 a week, followed by Hugo Lloris and Dele Alli, with the latter signing a new deal recently worth about £100,000 a week. Moussa Sissoko is thought to earn about £90,000 a week. Kane, Alli, Son Heung-min and Erik Lamela have all signed contracts since the end of last season.

This is the part that still makes you sit up and think. Christian Eriksen is only on £70,000/week. Granted, this is without bonuses, but it’s still one of the best bargains in Europe. This seems to fall in line with the part about how much he loves Tottenham and how good the club has been to him for his career, but it’s time to pay the man. He’s earned his big payday whether it comes from Spurs or not.

If Spurs end up selling him, I also think it’s going to be a number greater than £60m. That might be his value in a normal market, but we know what it’s been like the last couple of years. Even though he has one year remaining on his contract, Levy is going to try and squeeze every last bit of cash out of whoever comes calling.

The good news is that none of this seems to be affecting Eriksen, Mauricio Pochettino, or the club itself. Everyone seems happy to push this until after the season, especially when there’s a Champions League semi-final next week. We’re still in wait-and-see mode, and this report shouldn’t be taken as gospel even though Gary Jacob and The Times are a pretty good source, but this is the best news we’ve heard in regard to keeping Eriksen for months.