Ben Guest
Harry Redknapp thinks Spurs should take Christian Eriksen out of the first-team picture with his contract running towards its expiry.
With less than a year left to run on his deal, and having openly admitted his desire to ‘try something new’, it has been suggesting that Tottenham could look to offload Eriksen in the upcoming January transfer window in order to get some kind of a transfer fee.
However, former Spurs boss Redknapp thinks that the Denmark international will stay at the club until the end of the season before leaving on a free, and has called on the North London club to ‘play someone else’ – someone who actually wants to play for the club
“I don’t see him signing a new contract now,” Redknapp told The Sun. “I think he will let it run out and take that option of being a free agent next summer.
“So if he doesn’t want to stay and has made up his mind to go, I’d be looking to play someone else now.
“If he doesn’t want to be part of the team, it’s very difficult — you want people who want to play for the club — and it’s time to say right, OK.”
The I’m a Celebrity winner went on to suggest that the lure of a massive signing-on fee would be the driving force behind Eriksen’s prolonged stay at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, describing it as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’.
“You get to January and see if you can sell him then. But he probably won’t move then because, if he hangs on until the summer and sees his contract out, he’s a free agent.
“Let’s say his value is £50million. When he is a free agent he can go to a club and his agent will say his value is £50m if you bought him.
“Now you are getting him for nothing, so you give him £25m and you will still have a bargain.
“So somebody will give him a big signing-on fee plus his wages, so he is really going to set himself up for life by hanging on now.
“He has gone this far. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. But he has to start playing better anyway to get the move he wants.”
The 27-year-old has been sorely out of form for Spurs this season, scoring just twice and providing one assist in his 14 appearances so far – though he did find the net twice in Denmark’s 6-0 win over Gibraltar on Friday night, his fifth and sixth strikes for his country so far this season.
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