Real Madrid’s dealings with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy have rarely been straightforward but in the past have borne fruit that has tasted as sweet on both sides of the English channel, in the cases of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale. Florentino Pérez has been satisfied by getting his way, while Levy, a notorious hard-baller, has stuffed Spurs’ coffers with more cash than might reasonably have been expected at the time for two of his star players.
The Bernabéu’s tentative sounding-out of Mauricio Pochettino may have been met with a brick wall, the Argentinean being the foundation stone of Tottenham’s recent success, but Pérez is ready to go back to his favourite hunting ground for another of Levy’s prized assets next summer: Christian Eriksen.
Real’s pursuit of Modric and Bale was hampered by the contracts both players were on at the time: the Croat, who joined Madrid in 2012, had a deal running until 2016 while the Welshman, who followed a year later, had two years left on his White Hart Lane contract. That allowed Levy to extract the maximum possible fees from Madrid, with Bale eventually moving to the Bernabéu for a world record fee. However, in the case of Eriksen, Real feel they for once enjoy the upper hand over Levy: the Dane’s contract expires next year and the 26-year-old appears to be in no hurry to agree to an extension.
Having observed, with a note of wry humour, that his chairman “bites” when interest from Madrid was made apparent, Pochettino admitted recently that Eriksen’s future is largely out of his hands: "Of course, Christian Eriksen is so important for us. As a manager you would like to have this type of player with you, but in the end it's a negotiation. It would be fantastic if Christian commits with the club for a long time. If not, it's his right to do what he wants to do.”
With Isco seemingly closer to a Bernabéu exit than ever, Real also have a bargaining chip that could lean the negotiation even further in their favour. Levy, meanwhile, will be planning ahead and pondering how he can best work the situation to his advantage when, as seems increasingly probable, Real come calling for Eriksen.
Source: AS / Mario Cortegana