As the transfer window draws closer some wild West Ham links will emerge, first up, dispelling the unlikely move for Inter Milan’s Christian Eriksen.
This just has transfer lies written all over it, doesn’t it? Still, let’s have a look at the situation, the fit, and the overall plausibility of West Ham making a shock move for former Tottenham attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen.
The positional indication was made with intent – why are football insiders linking West Ham with an attacking midfielder yet again? Currently, the Hammers play a formation without a number 10, and to do so they are sticking both Pablo Fornals and Manuel Lanzini, natural central attacking midfielders, into wide winger positions.
In nine matches or Inter this season, Eriksen has played CAM seven times and central midfield twice. For Denmark, Eriksen has played central midfield or CAM since as far back as 2017, in his last season at Tottenham, Eriksen played a total of 54 matches across two leagues and five tournaments playing wide midfield or wing positions only seven times. He is not a wide player.
At 28-years-old, Eriksen is far from the twilight of his career, but he isn’t a fresh player who is going to pick up a new position with relative ease, especially a wider position where his physical fitness will be tested more regularly!
His age also goes against what David Moyes stated he wants to build at West Ham. In the model of RB Leipzig now and reminiscent of his Everton days previously, Moyes wants a young, exciting, and motivated team for him to mould. Would a loan of Eriksen really accomplish that? Hardly, where are Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, and Said Benrahma absolutely do; all were bought for positional need, all are 25-years-old or younger.
The word ‘loan’ as the rumour suggests is also imperative in dispelling this transfer link. His four-year contract signed with Inter Milan in 2020 and has him on a base wage rumoured to be £100k a week after tax. Even if Inter paid half of his wages, which doesn’t seem likely, why would a stingy and cheap board like Gold, Sullivan, and Brady waste the money on another bench player?
Ability wise, Christian Eriksen would be amazing at West Ham. Sitting in the number 10 role in a 4-2-3-1 system would suit him well with little defensive responsibility and insulation of wide midfielders and Sebastien Haller up top. Unfortunately, the system doesn’t suit him and the owners are too cheap. An early flyer for the most outlandish rumour of January has struck us already.