Christian Eriksen is set to join up with his Tottenham teammates by the end of the week for pre-season training despite having made plain his desire to leave the club more than a month ago.
When Eriksen said in early June that he wanted a new challenge elsewhere this summer, it was designed to accelerate a long-considered exit strategy. The midfielder has been linked with Real Madrid, who like their transfer targets to publicly express a desire to leave their employers, and Juventus.
But Spurs have received no official bids for Eriksen and he must re-focus on getting fit for the new season with them. The players began to report from Monday, with Eriksen granted a little extra time after his involvement with Denmark in the European Championship qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Georgia on June 7th and 10th.
Spurs depart for their pre-season tour of Asia next Wednesday, where they face Juventus in Singapore on Sunday week and Manchester United in Shanghai four days after that.
Eriksen’s situation has been complicated by that of another want-away midfielder – Paul Pogba of United. Pogba has also said that he fancies a new challenge and Real and Juventus are considering moves for him. He is believed to be higher up the wish-lists of the respective clubs, meaning that there is a knock-on effect for Eriksen.
Spurs have broken their transfer record for the box-to-box midfielder Tanguy Ndombele – they paid an initial £55m for him to Lyon – but they continue to explore the possibility of signing another attack-minded midfielder. Giovani Lo Celso of Real Betis is a player of great interest to them while they also like Real Madrid’s Dani Ceballos and Roma’s Nicolò Zaniolo. Were they to land one of those targets, it is likely that they would need to balance the books with the sale of Eriksen.
Spurs have signed the winger Jack Clarke for an initial £10m and loaned him back to Leeds for the season and they want to take the left-sided player Ryan Sessesgnon from Fulham. Eriksen has one year to run on his contract and he has said that “it would not be something negative to stay” at Spurs.
The club, meanwhile, could still offer Fernando Llorente a contract. The 34-year-old Spanish striker is a free agent, after Spurs allowed his old £100,000-a-week deal to expire on June 30th. If Llorente, who has played for them for the past two seasons, cannot find a club in Spain, Spurs would be open to re-signing him on reduced terms. – Guardian
