Inter Director Admits Christian Eriksen Could Leave Amid Swap Deal Rumours
By Tom Gott
Inter director Giuseppe Marotta has confessed that the club are prepared to sell Christian Eriksen in January, but only if the Dane hands in a transfer request.
Since his move from Tottenham Hotspur in January 2020, Eriksen has struggled to make a real impact at Inter. This season, he has started just four games in all competitions and has regularly an unused substitute, with manager Antonio Conte seemingly not impressed despite pushing so hard to sign him at the start of the year.
There's been a bit of back-and-forth between Eriksen and the club about this situation recently. Firstly, the Dane told fans that they needed to 'ask Conte' to explain his lack of minutes, after which the boss insisted (via Football Italia) that Eriksen has had plenty of chances, but he does not need to explain his decisions to anyone.
After Conte's latest comments, Marotta told DAZN (via Sky Sport Italia) that the door is open to a potential move away for Eriksen, who has managed just four goals and three assists in 33 appearances for Inter.
“Yesterday, Conte answered in a very comprehensive way,” Marotta said. "I can only add that we will not hold a footballer back if they ask to be transferred. We will have to make the right evaluations.
"At the minute, he is available to Conte, who is using him in respect of the player and the club. For now, no requests have arrived from Eriksen, but at the right moment we will try to find the right solutions."
Should Inter make Eriksen available for transfer, there would likely be no shortage of suitors. Real Madrid were linked during his final summer with Tottenham, but most of the recent rumours revolve around a return to the Premier League.
Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport (via Football Italia) recently suggested that Inter would look to engineer a swap deal to take Eriksen back to England.
Arsenal's Granit Xhaka is the primary focus of their report, with Conte seemingly keen to link up with the Swiss midfielder, but Manchester United duo Fred and Nemanja Matic are both named as potential targets as well.
It's noted that Chelsea's N'Golo Kante would be his dream acquisition, but the Blues are obviously not going to be interested in adding another creative midfielder in place of their only defensive option.
Unfortunately for Inter, none of the aforementioned teams are actually interested in those deals, and Inter don't really get to decide the terms of the transfer since they're the ones with the problem in the first place.