Christian Eriksen has arrived

As the little man jinked past one challenge, showed surprising upper body skill and threaded a neat pass through to a team-mate, it was as if I had time travelled. This could have been any game from 2009 to 2012, a small player who many deemed not strong enough for the Premier League dominating those around him. Christian Eriksen is now fundamental to Spurs.

Over the Christmas period Eriksen put together a string of impressive performances, so much so that I found myself daydreaming about Luka Modric less and less. The comparison with our former Croat is an easy one to make.

There is the low centre of gravity, their eye for a pass, a surprising turn of speed and understated skilfulness. Certain players flaunt and rub their skill in your face like a stripper desperate for your attention, but Eriksen like Modric is more Burlesque,  a brief glimpse, a ruffled feather or swinging tassel here and there, all arriving with a delicate shimmy to entrance and have you gagging for more.

On Sunday the Dane was in full Dita Von Teese mode. As he waltzed past challenges, spun defenders in an instant or swung in an arching cross that Nacer Chadli somehow missed, but Emmanuel Adebayor didn’t, my fate was sealed. In Tottenham Top Trumps, Eriksen is now pushing a 19 in my Worship rating, he is the card you cling on to in the darkest moments, the vessel into which you push your seasons hopes.

[authquoteleft text=”certain players flaunt and rub their skill in your face like a stripper desperate for your attention, but Eriksen like Modric is more Burlesque[/linequote]

The thing about Eriksen that makes this transformation from potential and hope, into an actual game changer all the more special is the is the doubt that surrounded his arrival.

The Dane is not a surprise package, he hasn’t walked unheard of straight off the boat into Premier League stardom like Michu, Sandro or Christian Benteke. The former Ajax man has been around and surrounded by hype since he was 16 years old.

Football Manager, the game that hardly ever gets it wrong, Cherno Samba, Justin Georcelin and Ibrahima Bakayoko aside, have trumpeted the Dane for a few generations. At the FIFA World Cup 2010 Eriksen was the youngest player to travel to South Africa, and in Holland he led Ajax to multiple titles and played a major role in dispatching oil dipped Man City from the 2012/13 Champions League.

Eriksen wasn’t a secret or a hidden gem, he was very much in the open, yet he remained unclaimed.

Succeeding in Holland isn’t necessarily a yard stick by which to measure a player. Cast your eyes over some of the biggest flops to arrive in England, and you will see that “their Dutch record was incredible” somewhere in the excuses column. Alfonso Alves, Georgios Samaras and Dirk Kuyt were lethal in Holland, yet in Middlesbrough, Manchester and Liverpool there are thousands of undamaged, perfectly painted barn doors.

Perhaps too many teams had been burnt by the relative easy nature of the Eredivisie boosting a players stats?

This doubt coupled with the fact he arrived at Spurs cast a major cloud over the Danes arrival. Take a quick glance around the Premier League; Oscar, Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Mesut Ozil, Willian and a variety of other attacking midfielders despite strong links with Spurs, all ended up plying their trade away from N17, yet Eriksen arrived.

As Willian was getting ushered into a fitting room for his Spurs kit, Chelsea were pushing the GDP of a small country into his agent’s pocket, and as Arjen Robben was scuffing a penalty in the Champions League final, Hazard was changing kit colours in his mind from white to blue. Countless times we have had possible signings reject us for the money, money, more money and Champions League, but not Eriksen.

As a pessimist this naturally led me to ponder the Dane’s true talent in a startling similar way I did with Modric. If he’s that good, why hasn’t someone else barring Liverpool, who throw themselves at everyone, the sluts, been linked with him?

[linequote]Countless times we have had possible signings reject us for the money, money, more money and Champions League, but not Eriksen[/linequote]

Borussia Dortmund who had Mario Gotze lured away by Bayern Munich didn’t bid. Manchester United who are in desperate need of a midfielder capable of combining running, passing and breathing opted against him, as well as the rest of Europe’s Champions League qualified or Russian/Arab moneyed elite.

The reason why he joined us though is quite simple. Eriksen came to Spurs, because in life occasionally good things do happen. Also for the sake of balancing the equilibrium of the planet, Spurs need flair players for the universe to exist. 

From his first touches against Norwich the Dane has impressed, he settled in a way that must have Erik Lamela green with jealously. The Dane does benefit though from being able to speak English, having his former captain and friend Jan Vertonghen at the club and the fact he grew up in Europe. Nevertheless though his settling, even disrupted by an injury picked up on international duty, has been impressive.

AVB’s time at Spurs was effectively ended thanks to a famine of flair and goals, especially at home, but it’s worth remembering that during those last few grim few weeks of his reign, he was unable to field Eriksen, the man who alongside Adebayor, most defines Tim Sherwood’s early reign as manager. A reign that has so far been classed: attacking, open and exciting. Three adjectives you would never use to describe AVB’s reign.

[authquoteright text=”With Eriksen now pulling the strings, I feel I can finally stop looking back and fantasising about times past[/linequote]

It would be far too easy to state that Sherwood’s success and AVB failures are down to Eriksen, but we can not deny the influence the Dane is having on the team. He is now able to change games either through assists, goals or his sheer movement. Eriksen has become our new game changer in that beautifully subtle way that is Modric’s trademark.

Last season when I watched the Croatian scampering across the Bernabeu pitch for Real Madrid, it was like finding a sex tape of you and an old girlfriend. At the time you thought the sex it was ok, but only by re-watching the film whilst sat alone playing with yourself in a darkened room, do you realise just how mind-blowing it was.

With Eriksen now pulling the strings, I feel I can finally stop looking back and fantasising about times past. I can erase the tape and start a whole new album. Eriksen is our future.

[author name=”ARLombardi” avatar=”https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000789662677/0ad5704c93624459c70b906dab544185_bigger.jpeg” bio=”I read, I write, I speak, I edit for The Fighting Cock” twitter=”ARLombardi[/linequote]