Manchester City Linked With Danish Midfield Maestro: Why He Can Be Pep’s Next Go-to Man

Manchester City are keeping close tabs on Tottenham Hotspur attacker Christian Eriksen, it has been claimed by The Sun.

Apart from City, Real Madrid and Chelsea are also believed to be keen to make Eriksen sign on the dotted line owing to his consistently remarkable displays in the Premier League.

Eriksen has 18 months left on his current contract with Spurs and no significant progress has been made so far regarding the extension of his contract.

Mauricio Pochettino and Daniel Levy will be reluctant to strike him off their books anytime soon but might not take the risk of losing him for free.

He is undoubtedly one of the most prized assets on the books of the Lilywhites and apparently, he has a price tag of £79m slapped on his collar.

Christian Eriksen: Profile

Eriksen was spotted by the renowned youth academy of Ajax and he was quick in paving his way to their senior side. He accumulated more than a century of appearances for the Dutch outfit before switching to Spurs in 2013.

He has been Spurs’ go-to man for creating chances and scoring goals. In 19 Premier League appearances this season, the 26-year-old has scored 4 goals and registered 7 assists.

Besides, Eriksen has been representing Denmark’s national side on a regular basis and with the peak years of his career lying ahead of him, it isn’t surprising to see City plotting a move to lure him to the Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City ‘s present midfield is the best in the Premier League owing to the consistency and level of football put forth on display by the likes of Fernandinho, Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, Bernardo Silva and to an extent Ilkay Gundogan.

While it may seem City are in no need to splash on midfielders at the moment, there are minor issues which will be cropping up in the future. Ilkay Gundogan has not convinced fully as a regular starter and his injury record is also a reason behind his inability to string together successive starts over a long period of time for his club.

Fernandinho and David Silva are both 33 and despite their current level of performance it will be foolish not to think of the future especially at a club like City. Yes, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva are earmarked as possible replacements, mostly by the fans, for the Spaniard but to be fair, Bernardo is a well-established star in the team even with the former Valencia man still around.

Fernandinho’s replacement will also be an issue but Pep has already iterated that a like for like player is unlikely to be found in today’s transfer climate with clubs like Barcelona and PSG joining in most transfer chases currently.

In such a scenario, Pep might well look to effect minor tweaks to his midfield strategy. While the philosophy will remain the same, another player like Eriksen who has the attributes to contribute defensively as well can very well carve his own place in a team like City.

Pep has never shown an aversion to going in with an unconventional number of attack-minded players in his team. His positional tactics carry much more weight than more traditional aspects such as tackling with the Catalan going as far as to even say he doesn’t bother teaching his players how to tackle, apparently taking a dig at the culture on being over-reliant on defensive players to prevent the opposition from scoring goals.

Bernardo Silva’s recent displays in central midfield bear testimony to the fact that a Pep Guardiola midfielder is unlikely to be bound by any conventional attributes and positional awareness, work-ethic and technical acumen will go a long way in finding favour under his tutelage.

While many may baulk at the idea of a midfield quartet of Christian Eriksen, Kevin de Bruyne, Bernado Silva and Phil Foden, a manager like Pep Guardiola can work wonders with these options at his disposal.

Statistics Credits: WhoScored