‘Was only talk’ – Eriksen reveals Spurs did not make concrete offer to him
Christian Eriksen has revealed the idea of him returning to Tottenham this summer was only paper talk and his former club did not make a concrete offer to him.
At one point earlier this summer, reports indicated that Spurs were one of the favourites to snap up Eriksen on a free transfer after his contract with Brentford ran out (ESPN).
However, the fairytale return to North London did not materialise for the Dane, who ended up linking up with Erik Ten Hag at Old Trafford.
David Ornstein explained on The Athletic’s YouTube channel (starting at 7:20) last month that the contract length and salary Eriksen demanded did not match what Spurs had in mind, which is why Antonio Conte’s men pulled the plug on the deal.
The 30-year-old has now stated that a return to Spurs was never really on the cards this summer and that Man Utd showed concrete interest from the start.
He told The Daily Mail: “(Returning to Tottenham) was only talk, they never really came with anything so it wasn’t really a thing for me to go back to Tottenham at the time and Man United were very early on, very positive and I had good conversations.
“It was very positive from the first few phone calls already and the club felt like they wanted me, so it was on for a long time.”
Eriksen also revealed that he had conversations with the likes of Louis Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer about joining United in the past when he was at Tottenham.
The midfielder said: “Even when I was at Spurs, I’ve spoken to every manager who’s been here at Man United to see what the situation was.
“But I was at Spurs at the time and I really couldn’t see myself playing in another English team at that time. I went abroad and went to Inter.
“So, it’s been on the books, well, not on the books but it’s been spoken about. For me, it wasn’t the right timing, it wasn’t there and I was at a place at Spurs for a long time and I wanted to try something abroad and I went to Inter and ended up having a lovely time.
“But then obviously something happened in the summer and that changed a bit the career path I had in mind, and then obviously to come back to Brentford, first of all, and then to be here is something I didn’t think could happen a year ago.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I think more than there being any interest from Conte, it was Spurs fans who kept pushing the idea of Eriksen returning to the club, even though there were not too many concrete reports to suggest we were not interested.
I also wonder if the uncompromising fitness demands of Conte and his coaching staff during pre-season was part of the reason why Spurs were hesitant to move for Eriksen.
Even though the Dane appears to have recovered completely, it might not have been particularly pleasant to watch him run 42 pitch lengths at Seoul and drop on the floor through exhaustion like some Spurs players did.
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