Eriksen felt like ‘the back sheep’ at Tottenham

Christian Eriksen recently joined Inter from Tottenham Hotspur for a reported fee of around €20m. He felt like ‘the black sheep’ during the final months of his Tottenham career.

Eriksen’s contract with Tottenham was due to expire in July 2020. He openly said about his wish of joining a new club in order to have a new challenge at the end of last season. But his transfer didn’t happen and he had to stay at Tottenham for another 6 months before finalising a move to Inter last month.

In those 6 months, Eriksen was made ‘the black sheep’ at Tottenham by their fans for the poor performances of the team. Those poor performances also saw Pochettino getting sacked and the appointment of Jose Mourinho as the new manager.

The Denmark international thinks he paid the price for his honesty. He told the BBC: “If you have a short contract, you will be the black sheep. Of course, I did the interview. I was very honest. I felt I had to be honest. I didn’t want to hide like a lot of players do. Everyone is different. I was honest. I wanted to say it out loud.”

“I did get the blame for a lot of stuff, for being the bad guy. I read I was the bad person in the changing room, that ever since I said I wanted to leave, it was no good me being there. To be honest, over the last few years, if anything came up, any player would think about leaving but I was the guy who said it publicly.”

He further added: “I think Mourinho did well. He could have said ‘he wants to leave, so he is not going to play anymore’. He didn’t do that.”

“After I told him where my feelings were and what I would like to do, he told me just to be happy and if I was needed I would play. I was needed in a few games where I did make a difference. It was more as an extra rather than in the starting XI of course.”

Eriksen was also linked with Manchester United and had talks with them. But now he is happy with his decision to join Antonio Conte’s Inter.

He said: “We did speak to them [United], of course, and we did hear what was possible and what wasn’t possible. But, in the end, me personally, I wanted a new challenge. To stay in the Premier League would have been an easy solution.”

“Of course, staying at Tottenham would also have been a solution but, for me, it just came down to wanting to try a new challenge in a new country. Once Inter came up it really wasn’t a difficult choice.
In my head and for my body, it is good that I am in a new place and I can start again.”

Eriksen’s former Tottenham teammate Dele Alli told Sky Sports: “He’s [Eriksen] a worldie. I sent him a sad face on message, but I’m sure I’ll speak to him. He’s an unbelievable player. Yeah, he’ll be missed here, but this is a different step in his career.”

“Since the start of the season there’s been a lot of speculation and now it’s gone though I wish him all the best because he’s a great friend and a great person.”

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