Christian Eriksen’s representatives have told Tottenham that he is not interested in any further talks over a contract extension at the north London club, according to the Daily Mail.
That comes after turning down the latest contract offer from Spurs which was worth more than £200k-a-week.
The deal would have put him right at the top of the Tottenham salary bracket, second-only to Harry Kane.
Eriksen has set his mind on a dream move to Real Madrid or Barcelona, but neither side has come through with a concrete offer this summer.
There’s still time to do a deal before the end of the European transfer deadline next week but if nothing happens then Eriksen will stay at Tottenham.
He can leave on a free transfer next summer.
Two-tier transfer deadline is terrible for the Premier League
England’s transfer window shut on August 8 but European sides have until September 2 to bring players in.
Premier League teams voted to close the window before the season started and that makes total sense.
However, the European window can still disrupt Premier League sides, with Mauricio Pochettino admitting that his squad is more unsettled now than ever before in his five-year reign.
How long do clubs need to complete deals? Surely it makes total sense to close all European windows at the same time, before the seasons start?
Tottenham are suffering because of the uncertainty over one of their most important players.
Eriksen has only started one game this season – the 2-2 draw against Man City – with Pochettino bringing him on in the 3-1 win against Villa and the 1-0 defeat to Newcastle for around 30 minutes in each game.
He was ineffectual against Newcastle, making one unsuccessful cross compared to four (three successful) against Villa, but still made 10 passes to the final third with a 90% success rate [WyScout].
By contrast, Giovani Lo Celso (also on for around 30 minutes against Newcastle) only made one pass to the final third with Pochettino admitting he’s still a long way away from where he needs to be in terms of fitness.
If Eriksen doesn’t go, Pochettino needs to re-integrate him into the first-team as soon as possible. When he starts Tottenham are a more balanced and creative side.
However, the uncertainty will start again when the January window opens and Daniel Levy won’t want to lose him for nothing next summer.