The after-effects of Tottenham’s Champions League final following the defeat to Liverpool undermined the start of the club’s 2019-20 season, but disappointment over the lack of a potentially once-in-a-lifetime shot to glory wasn’t the only problem it had. made the club headache.
The desire to move on from that painful night and start over has been undermined by the uncertainty surrounding the future of three of the club’s owners in Madrid – Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Christian Eriksen – which is documented in the All or Nothing series: Amazon’s Tottenham Hotspur. .
All three players were nearing the final 12 months of their deals, but it was the situation surrounding Eriksen – the player who cleverly joined the defense to attack in midfield – that overshadowed the club’s pre-season. “I feel like I am at a stage in my career where I would like to try something new,” said Eriksen a few days after the June final. It wasn’t until January that he was finally sold to Inter.
Eriksen gets decent airtime in the third episode of All or Nothing as Mourinho and Daniel Levy try to figure out what to do with him. “When the team needs the ball, they move it better, the team is a little more fluid but one thing is the dynamics and another is the thrust. It doesn’t push. That extra desire is missing, “Mourinho tells his president, before asking:” Where are you going? “
“I don’t know,” Levy replies. “The problem we have with Christian is that none of us know what the real truth is, his agent controls everything and there is no dialogue between the club and his agent.”
Mourinho successfully persuaded Alderweireld to sign a new deal with Spurs and, later in the episode, Levy tries to ascertain whether a similar resolution with Eriksen can be reached. After Eriksen shakes hands with both Mourinho and Levy in the club cafeteria, Levy asks, “Do you think there is absolutely no way to transform him?”
“We can try one more time”, is Mourinho’s reply. “At least then we’ll know we’ve tried everything,” Levy says. Eriksen looks like many would expect from him: he’s lovable, not hostile, and seems highly regarded by players and staff. Yet it is clear that he is affected by his situation. “It’s the only business in the world where you are allowed to write whatever you want and there are no consequences,” he tells the cameras amid constant speculation about his future.
Sadly, Tottenham’s best assistant in the Premier League era didn’t get his serve sent off justified. He was booed after exiting in the 1-0 defeat to Liverpool, a couple of weeks before his move to Inter was confirmed. By that time, Eriksen must have thought his season could only move in an upward trajectory.
However, this was not necessarily the case. Eriksen is not a typical Antonio Conte midfielder. In fact, the former Chelsea boss preferred a move for Barcelona’s fighting Chilean Arturo Vidal instead. It would be difficult to find two more diametrically opposed midfielders.
Conte certainly found it difficult to transform a creative player into a more functional three midfield. Of Eriksen’s 26 appearances under the former Chelsea boss, only 11 have come from the start. In his last two Serie A appearances of the season, Eriksen entered in the 89th minute both times, while he was only given a dozen minutes to try and save something from Inter’s Europa League final defeat to Sevilla. last Friday.
It is unlikely that playing a role in part for Inter Milan was what Eriksen had foreseen when he publicly declared his desire to leave Spurs. This is not to say there weren’t any promising moments. He scored on his European debut for Inter against Ludogorets in February, scored goals and assists from the bench in July’s 6-0 against Brescia and distinguished himself during the semi-final of the Coppa Italia lost to Napoli.
Considering that Inter Milan spent € 20 million to sign Eriksen in January, when he would be available for free six months later, however, it is unlikely that Conte’s recent cold treatment and reluctance to play him have been well received by his bosses. Financially, Tottenham appear to have gotten the better side of the deal despite Eriksen moving for far less than his market value.
In a scenario that will not surprise any Chelsea fan, Conte has improved Inter’s fortunes on the pitch – despite the club’s ninth straight season without trophies – but he was a divisive figure. “It was wonderful for me to be the manager of Inter, I thank the owners who have allowed me to live this wonderful experience,” he said after the defeat on Friday.
Those comments and Conte’s general behavior suggested he could leave this summer – a situation that could have benefited Eriksen – but on Tuesday the club announced he would stay.
This doesn’t necessarily ring the death knell for Eriksen’s career at Inter. A first preseason, albeit reduced, should allow him and Conte to know better what makes the other beat. This is what Eriksen is hoping for anyway, after a forgettable 2019-20 campaign.
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