This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Darren Fletcher believes that Christian Eriksen has “fallen out of love” with Tottenham Hotspur, per BBC Radio 5 Live via The London Evening Standard.
What’s the word?
The Spurs midfielder has a contract that expires at the end of the season and he actively sought a move in the summer transfer window following the Champions League final defeat to Liverpool.
He played the entire 90 minutes as Spurs lost 3-1 to Bayern Munich in a European dead rubber on Wednesday evening but has been gradually phased out by new boss Jose Mourinho, who has given him just 37 minutes of football in the Premier League.
Who is that?! Can you name all of these obscure Spurs signings? Give it a go now…
And Fletcher believes his heart is no longer in playing for the north London club.
He said: “Christian Eriksen has fallen out of love with the club.
“He obviously doesn’t want to be there.”
Earn your move
Fletcher is probably right.
But that does not detract from the fact that Eriksen should be trying to earn a move to a bigger club.
Reports in the summer suggested that he was holding out for a move to either Real Madrid or Barcelona but, on his current form, he is unlikely to woo either.
This is a player who scored two goals and registered two assists in 18 appearances in all competitions.
While it may be true that he wants out, it can also be true that he needs to play to the best of his ability to convince the biggest clubs in the world to bid for him.
As it is, he isn’t doing that and will likely leave on a free in the summer, purely because of a lack of interest, both on his and any buying club’s part.
Meanwhile, Barcelona have been told they have to sign one Spurs ace.