Why Tottenham bringing Christian Eriksen back would be a useful move for Mourinho

According to reputed football journalist Fabrizio Romano (h/t Express), Tottenham are mulling over the prospect of bringing back their former star, Christian Eriksen from Inter Milan. While they were interested during the summer itself, the deal could be worked out in January.

Profile

Christian Eriksen is a 28-year-old Danish midfielder who plays for Serie A side Inter Milan. He started his youth career at Middelfart G&BK in 1995 and moved to Odense Boldklub after 10 seasons. He then joined Ajax’s youth side in 2009.

Within a year, he was promoted to the senior side. He became one of the finest young central midfielders in Eredivisie. In 163 games for Ajax, he scored 32 goals and assisted 65. Spurs came calling after they had sold Gareth Bale and were in dire need of an able replacement.

Eriksen fulfilled all of that during his spell at North London. He was used in a variety of positions but adjusted well to keep producing decent numbers in front of goal. After 305 appearances for the club, during which he scored 69 goals and assisted 89 (source – Transfermarkt), he left for Inter Milan in the middle of last season.

Since then, he has struggled to reproduce his Spurs form, with just 7 goal contributions to his name to show for. Eriksen has made close to a 100 appearances for Denmark, while chipping in with 32 goals.

Why it could be a useful move

Spurs did some good business in the transfer window bringing in the likes of Gareth Bale, Sergio Reguilon, Matt Doherty, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Carlos Vinicius. They look to have decent depth in most positions, which is a good sign given the huge number of games to play this season.

They should, however, look to bring back Eriksen to provide more creativity from the middle of the park. Eriksen thrived in that role during his spell at the club and with the likes of Son, Bale and Kane as forward options, he could enjoy more success.

While that would mean Dele Alli taking a back seat, the player hasn’t exactly looked settled under Mourinho apart from the initial burst of form. With links to PSG, Alli could even leave the club.

Read More

• Why Tottenham should reignite interest in Merih Demiral in January
• Why Carlos Vinicius is a really useful signing for Tottenham

That void could easily be filled by Eriksen. He already knows the club and their players, and hence, he would have no problems settling down.