Christian Eriksen, Inter & the Weirdest Transfer in Football History

One of the most fascinating storylines from the Amazon documentary All or Nothing: Jose Mouri... - sorry - Tottenham Hotspur, was the increasingly untenable role of star playmaker Christian Eriksen.

The Dane, who had been linked with moves away from North London for a string of successive transfer windows, had seemingly had enough of the familiar surroundings of White Hart Lane, and emotionally packed his bags in the summer of 2019.

From that moment on, it became apparent that no amount of money, flattery or bargaining could convince the midfielder to stick around much longer. Mourinho unsurprisingly washed his hands of the 28-year-old, only wanting to field committed, hungry players, willing to put their body on the line for the cause.

With the potential of a big pay day on the horizon, Eriksen understandably was not prepared to risk his fitness for a team with which he had no intention of finishing the season. So, a move seemed inevitable, and after his seven years of excellent service, there was a pleasantly surprising level of good will from the Spurs faithful towards their ex-talisman.

There was only one problem. Life moves fast, but football moves a million times faster. There just weren't many takers in the market. Interest from Manchester United had cooled, links with Real Madrid had died a silent death, and the rest of the world was peering through the looking glass.

Fortunately for Eriksen, one suitor remained. Unfortunately, that suitor was Antonio Conte at Inter.

Since setting foot in Milan, nothing has gone right for the midfielder. His signing was seen as a signal of intent for a dramatic title push - one that evaporated quickly thanks to three straight draws in January, and two successive defeats to Lazio and Juventus in February and March.

On a personal level, Eriksen just never got going. He made 17 appearances in the league last year, scoring once and assisting only twice. Tellingly, he only managed to complete a full 90 minutes on two occasions in Serie A, playing more than 45 minutes of football in fewer than half of those clashes.

While it's easy to read too hard into these numbers and pin the blame on the Danish superstar, there are some mitigating circumstances - one being the man in the dugout. The relationship between player and coach has never felt more than lukewarm, and this may have something to do with differing ideas on tactics and style of play.

Eriksen has made his name as one of the game's best playmakers, operating between the midfield and the forwards, exploiting space and providing a necessary link in attacking actions.

Only, that link is not necessary in a Conte setup which offers no such position to his troops. The one position in which the Dane thrives simply does not exist in this rigid Inter system, and the arrival of a superstar will not make a jot of difference to the coach: either fall in line, or get gone.

With that ultimatum in mind, we may already be reaching the point of no return.

In his general play, Eriksen looks terrified of making that killer pass upon which he has built his career, instead choosing the simpler and safer alternative. Perhaps playing the game from deeper has made those deliveries that much harder to judge and execute, while he always looks painfully distant from ever troubling the goalkeeper with a goal of his own.

Mentally, he doesn't seem to quite match his relentless coach, either. When you picture a 'Conte' central midfielder, the words tenacity, bite, desire, commitment, and running through brick walls, spring to mind. None of those adjectives come close to describing the dainty Dane's top traits.

Conte is believed to be running out of patience with Eriksen, who he hooked off in a 2-2 draw with Parma on Saturday, after seeing the midfielder idle slowly over to take a corner kick with I Nerazzurri down by a goal. You can't get away with that here, fella.

Out of sync, out of position, and running out of time. He has become a passenger in this side, and if there's one thing Conte won't abide, it's hangers-on. Any flames of positivity have been extinguished, and this unlikely duo could be parting ways as soon as January.

All this begs the question: why did Eriksen accept a transfer doomed from the start?

Pride, could be a major factor. Having made his bed and demanded his freedom, the Dane was forced to lie upon whichever lumpy, damp mattress landed beneath him. Money, of course, will have certainly been another key influence upon his decision-making.

Approaching his thirties, Eriksen will have been aware that he was running out of time to land one or two massive contracts in his career. So, the €7.5m a year deal he signed at San Siro will have gone some way to securing the salary he deserves, and it'll provide a fluffy cushion of comfort to his current predicament.

And maybe, just maybe, he might have thought this team was in need of his star quality, and Conte would be easily persuaded into allowing him the freedom he desires to recapture the mesmerising form of old. Wishful thinking, that.

Undoubtedly, the attacking midfielder will have larger aspirations than his Milanese nightmare.

Can Eriksen turn his fortunes around and convince Conte to either find or make space for him in this team? Absolutely. Will he? Probably not.

Inter are stocked with potentially the strongest array of midfield options in Europe right now, with Nicolo Barella, Stefano Sensi, Marcelo Brozovic, Roberto Gagliardini, Arturo Vidal and Radja Nainggolan all on the books. How many of those does Eriksen get in ahead of, for the role which Conte demands? Not many.

Will Conte stray from his beloved 3-5-2 formation, which nullifies the undeniable talents of their January arrival? His insistence on playing two wing-backs at centre-back in a three-man defence tells us, definitely not.

And so, that leaves one option: move on from this failed experiment. Eriksen still has enough pulling power to land another big contract at a European powerhouse, and the world will not turn a blind eye to the circumstances which have surrounded his dismal spell in Serie A.

It's time to chalk this one up as a failure, and one that we all saw coming.