Ask your everyday Spurs fan who their favourite player in the current squad is, and instead of the goal-guzzling Harry Kane or England wunderkind Dele All, the answer is more than likely to be their Danish dynamo Christian Eriksen.
Bought for a measly £11million - absolute peanuts in today’s market - from Eredivise side Ajax in 2013, Eriksen has made over 230 appearances for the Lilywhites, scoring 57 goals and 71 assists, and has twice been voted the club’s annual Player of the Year in the past five years.
The 26-year-old regularly competes to claim to be in the upper echelons of Europe’s elite, and certainly one of the most superb imports seen in the Premier League era. Therefore, when there’s an injury concern to the mesmeric midfielder, it commands attention.
After being absent from Tottenham’s last four fixtures - including the defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League - and subsequently being omitted from the Denmark national team for the international matches taking place this fortnight, supporters are right to expect some insight into the extent of any apparent injury Eriksen may have suffered.
Instead, the playmaker’s national boss, Age Hareide, stoked fears this week by stating when questioned on Eriksen’s absence that,
“Such an injury can be chronic and it is true that Tottenham also fears that.”
Simultaneously, the lack of communication from Spurs has done nothing to quell fan worries.
However, Eriksen’s agent, Martin Schoots, has now come out to Standard Sport to shed some more light on the situation, and placated concerns down to linguistic reasons.
Schoots asserts that Hareide’s comments had been lost in translation and that,
“Some international media have translated Hareide’s words badly.
“Christian has no chronic injuries - nobody has said that. He just has an injury related to some fatigue and, for that reason, he is having some rest. That is normal because otherwise it would not heal.
“Somebody has not translated well. Christian is doing everything to be back as soon as possible.”
Concerns have been exacerbated due to the fact the Eriksen only missed a single league game last season, as Tottenham finished third in the Premier League to gain another passage into the Champions League.
Instead, if Schoots’ pacifying words are to be trusted, Spurs fans can again rejoice once Eriksen shakes off his minor niggle and take to the football stage once more in the near future.
