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When Christian Eriksen’s transfer from Tottenham to Inter was completed in January, the Italian club announced it with a somewhat bizarre video with Eriksen asleep and the caption: “This dream is not for everyone”.
Unfortunately for the Dane, those words contained more truth than he would have liked.
Just a year after Eriksen’s time in Milan already seems to be drawing to a close, with rumors linking it to a move elsewhere when the transfer window opens in January.
Eriksen could look with thoughts on what could have been when Inter face Real Madrid on Wednesday – the Spanish giants were strongly linked to the attacking midfielder before he moved to Italy. Reports of his transfer to Madrid were news on the front page in the newspapers Marca and AS.
But why didn’t things work out for a player who was once considered one of the best in the Premier League and who, at 28, should be in the prime of his career?
A dream that has turned into a nightmare
Eriksen spent seven years at Tottenham, during which time his stats were astonishing.
He created more chances (571), provided more assists (62), scored the most direct free kicks (eight) and scored more goals from outside the box (23) than any other player in the Premier League.
They were the kind of stats that surpassed even Manchester City star Kevin de Bruyne, so at £ 16.9m for a 27-year-old player at the time it looked like Inter boss Antonio Conte had made a great deal.
Eleven months later, however, Eriksen found her playing time limited. He was mostly on the bench in his first half of the season and has so far been on and off the team during this period.
“This isn’t what I dreamed of,” Eriksen said earlier this month in an interview with TV2.
“It’s a bit of a strange situation, because the fans want to see me play more and I would too, but the coach has different ideas and as a player I have to respect them.”
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Doing business for Denmark, so why not Inter?
The contrast between Eriksen’s internal form and his international performance is stark.
Although he has yet to score a goal or even record an assist for Inter Milan this season, he has been a key figure for Denmark and has scored five goals in their last six games with them, including winning against England on 11 October.
His lack of playing time at Inter is proving to be frustrating for Denmark fans.
“This is important to us because we don’t have that many players to choose from,” journalist Sture Sando, who covers the Danish national team, told BBC Sport.
“The Danish fans follow how the players are doing at club level and if you look at the teams they play for – Inter, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund – it looks good, but how well do they manage to play? It’s definitely a problem.
“The situation with Eriksen at Inter is not fruitful, and the fans are eager to find a solution.”
So why didn’t it work?
“One of the reasons is the Conte system,” said Milanese football journalist Paolo Menicucci. “He likes to have a deep attacking midfielder and two box-to-box midfielders, but Eriksen doesn’t have those characteristics.
“Conte tried several times to change the system and play Eriksen behind the forwards but it didn’t work.”
From training alone to almost sleeping on Lukaku’s sofa
Like virtually anyone in any area of life, Eriksen’s hopes for 2020 have certainly been affected by the emergence of a global pandemic.
Settling in a new country is a challenge at best, and the arrival of the blockade in Italy as he struggled to cope with Covid-19 made things even more difficult for Eriksen.
At one point the midfielder was practically living on Inter’s training ground after failing to find an apartment for himself and his young family.
In an interview with Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, Eriksen said he even considered asking teammates Romelu Lukaku and Ashley Young if he could sleep on their sofa.
“It was difficult,” added Menicucci. “But I think the biggest problem was that the club regarded Eriksen as a transfer opportunity. His contract was expiring so it was relatively cheap. Conte never really wanted him and he never tried to adapt his team to he”.
What could it have been?
As Eriksen’s time at Tottenham drew to a close, it looked like Madrid would be his most likely destination.
It had been suggested that the move to the Bernabeu was what Eriksen really hoped for, so the disappointment of not getting that move could also explain some of his difficulties at Inter.
Madrid are said to have cooled their interest in Eriksen in the summer of 2019 to turn to Eden Hazard instead, a decision that in hindsight didn’t work out, with the former Chelsea playmaker suffering a bout of injuries so far. in Madrid.
Meanwhile, Inter seem to have already replaced Eriksen, having signed Arturo Vidal in September. A more well-rounded midfielder who was once considered one of the best box-to-box players in world football, Vidal fits in better with Conte’s system, pushing Eriksen further down the pecking order.
But if the Dane were selected to play against Real on Wednesday, he would have offered the midfielder the opportunity to impress his former suitors once again.
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