Christian Eriksen’s contract stand-off with Tottenham is set to take the club into “uncharted waters” where chairman Daniel Levy no longer has the upper hand in negotiations, according to the Times.
The newspaper claim the playmaker and the Spurs hierarchy are currently at an “impasse” in talks over a new deal and it is “unlikely” he will sign an extension to his current £70,000-a-week agreement in the current season.
The Times report Eriksen is set to enter the final year of his contract this summer and “at that stage no Tottenham player would ever have been in as powerful a position regarding talks with Levy” in what is a “possibly unique situation” for the club.
OPINION
As the Times report, Spurs and Levy are used to calling the shots when it comes to contract negotiations. The club hierarchy like to reward their key players with new deals every two years rather than run the risk of them running down their contracts and a slew of deals announced this year have secured the long-term futures of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Erik Lamela and Son Heung-Min, as well as manager Mauricio Pochettino. Some fans might point out that Belgian duo Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld are also out of contract at the end of the season, but the club have the option to extend those deals by a further 12 months. They have no such option with Eriksen, who is a player good enough and important enough to now call all the shots with Levy. He can take one look at Kane’s contract, which reports state is worth between £150,000-a-week and £200,000-a-week, and claim he wants a far bigger pay cheque to commit to a new deal. These talks could require all of Levy’s famed negotiating and brinkmanship.