BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
The more I think about it, the more I feel like the idea of ‘one last payday’ to just be an odd thing for Eriksen and Toby to be focussed in on. Like...did Lampard need it when still in his prime for Chelsea? They paid him proper money, they were competing and he stayed. Drogba?
I’m not talking about players that go to the MLS or China, but the ‘he just wants to live in Spain’ thing seems a bit spurious to me, as does the idea that he just wants one last payday, as if we couldn’t provide it. It’s like the new ‘he just wants CL football’ but in this case it’s almost less believable. Sure he may get slightly bigger wages if he went to Juve on a free, but if we keep progressing at the rate that we do, we are going to be closing even that gap. Then you have to think about the fact that you’re challenging in the best league in the world, and you’ve made a CL final. And the club is bringing top players in. What exactly is this idea?
Ronaldo left United to be put on the pedal stool as the best in the world. Bale left a very different Spurs. Maybe, relative to Eriksen, he feels like it’s his opportunity to play at the highest possible level and it’s a similar desire to Ronaldo. But, unless Real have played the ultimate game, they don’t seem like they are that interested. Maybe they’ll take him on a free next summer, but then what? Eriksen moving to a club that may or may not want him really badly? If they don’t really want him they may well not offer him the massive wages he thinks he’ll get if they are taking a punt. And if they are taking a punt, he isn’t going to be as important on the pitch.
It’s all a little weird to me. Feels like bad agent advice has lead him to believe his hand is better than it was, and it feels like the agents haven’t fully grasped where Spurs were going and what he already had in being here. It’s like a layover from the ‘Spurs will probably fall back to 6th next season’ days. Eriksen could be an important cog in a place he knows, getting paid proper money and competing for the biggest prizes in football. Hanging round on the off chance that two of the biggest clubs in the world decide to take a punt just feels weird. It’s lame, and doesn’t feel like the right way to manage a career. Being half in and half out.
I can’t think of other examples where players at a club of our current stature have done this. And the fact that we have two of them at the same time feels like someone somewhere has made the wrong call, or has not appreciated where we are going. The thing with these clubs is that if they really want you, they make it happen. They don’t sit around hoping they can nab you on a free. They sign you because they believe you are the best.
Suarez left Liverpool, but they were a different Liverpool. Hazard left Chelsea, but they are a different Chelsea to Lampard’s time and had a transfer ban. Maybe it is quite comparable to Hazard’s case in that he feels he’s given everything over the last 7 years and wants to leave, which is fair enough. But maybe the uncomfortable truth for Eriksen is that Real made it happen with Hazard. Why didn’t they make it happen with him?
I’m not talking about players that go to the MLS or China, but the ‘he just wants to live in Spain’ thing seems a bit spurious to me, as does the idea that he just wants one last payday, as if we couldn’t provide it. It’s like the new ‘he just wants CL football’ but in this case it’s almost less believable. Sure he may get slightly bigger wages if he went to Juve on a free, but if we keep progressing at the rate that we do, we are going to be closing even that gap. Then you have to think about the fact that you’re challenging in the best league in the world, and you’ve made a CL final. And the club is bringing top players in. What exactly is this idea?
Ronaldo left United to be put on the pedal stool as the best in the world. Bale left a very different Spurs. Maybe, relative to Eriksen, he feels like it’s his opportunity to play at the highest possible level and it’s a similar desire to Ronaldo. But, unless Real have played the ultimate game, they don’t seem like they are that interested. Maybe they’ll take him on a free next summer, but then what? Eriksen moving to a club that may or may not want him really badly? If they don’t really want him they may well not offer him the massive wages he thinks he’ll get if they are taking a punt. And if they are taking a punt, he isn’t going to be as important on the pitch.
It’s all a little weird to me. Feels like bad agent advice has lead him to believe his hand is better than it was, and it feels like the agents haven’t fully grasped where Spurs were going and what he already had in being here. It’s like a layover from the ‘Spurs will probably fall back to 6th next season’ days. Eriksen could be an important cog in a place he knows, getting paid proper money and competing for the biggest prizes in football. Hanging round on the off chance that two of the biggest clubs in the world decide to take a punt just feels weird. It’s lame, and doesn’t feel like the right way to manage a career. Being half in and half out.
I can’t think of other examples where players at a club of our current stature have done this. And the fact that we have two of them at the same time feels like someone somewhere has made the wrong call, or has not appreciated where we are going. The thing with these clubs is that if they really want you, they make it happen. They don’t sit around hoping they can nab you on a free. They sign you because they believe you are the best.
Suarez left Liverpool, but they were a different Liverpool. Hazard left Chelsea, but they are a different Chelsea to Lampard’s time and had a transfer ban. Maybe it is quite comparable to Hazard’s case in that he feels he’s given everything over the last 7 years and wants to leave, which is fair enough. But maybe the uncomfortable truth for Eriksen is that Real made it happen with Hazard. Why didn’t they make it happen with him?
