Christian Eriksen opens up on Tottenham exit, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United talks and Inter Milan move

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Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP5 February 2020

Christian Eriksen says his decision to run down his contract made him the “black sheep” at Tottenham.

In his first interview since joining Inter Milan for £17million, Eriksen claimed he became a scapegoat for consistently refusing to sign a new deal.

He also revealed that he held talks with Manchester United and blamed Tottenham’s slump this season on a Champions League Final hangover.

The Danish playmaker went public with his desire for a new challenge in the wake of Spurs’s defeat to Liverpool in June and his contract would have expired in the summer.

“If you have a short contract, you will be the black sheep,” Eriksen told BBC Sport. “Of course, I did the interview. I was very honest. I felt I had to be honest. I didn’t want to hide like a lot of players do. Everyone is different. I was honest. I wanted to say it out loud.

Eriksen opens up on his final six months at Tottenham.
Getty Images

“I did get the blame for a lot of stuff, for being the bad guy. I read I was the bad person in the changing room, that ever since I said I wanted to leave, it was no good me being there.

“To be honest, over the last few years, if anything came up, any player would think about leaving but I was the guy who said it publicly.

“It was very hectic. After what I said in the summer, it was just about ‘When is he going to leave?’ Every game it was ‘Is he leaving? Is he not leaving?’

“Even the fans you see on the street were like, ‘Thank you, goodbye and good luck’. But I was still there. It was a bit weird. In my head and for my body, it is good that I am in a new place and I can start again.

“I wouldn’t say it affected me. In ­England, when your contract is shorter, it is like you have to leave now. You are gone. In the end I played about 30 games that were like goodbye games. It was like, ‘This might be his last game’, ‘This might be his last game’. It kept rolling.

“In my head I was ready to try something new but felt if nothing came, I was still ready to play for my place. I was not a different player in that sense. But I was in and out of the team. However, even if I had a four-year contract, this season would have been difficult after the Champions League Final.”

After the devastating defeat to ­Liverpool in Madrid, Spurs made a ­disappointing start to the season and manager Mauricio Pochettino was replaced by Jose Mourinho in November, with the club 14th in the League table.

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“You lose and the next day it is the end of the world,” Eriksen said. “That is how it goes. Afterwards it was difficult. People were still sad from the Champions League Final when the season started. After you get a few bad results, then you go into a spiral you are not used to and it was difficult to come back up.

“But if you look at the Premier League, there is only one team that is really flying. All the others are trying to find their place, not only Tottenham. Some seasons are like that.

“The history of the last five years is of Tottenham being where they have not been before for a long time. It was not a time to end but, in a way, it just came along.”

Spurs were willing to offload Eriksen to Manchester United for around £50m in August and the 27-year-old revealed he held talks with the Old Trafford club.

Action Images via Reuters

“It was never really likely,” Eriksen said. “We did speak to them, of course, and we did hear what was possible and what wasn’t possible. But, in the end, me personally, I wanted a new challenge. To stay in the Premier League would have been an easy solution.

“Of course, staying at Tottenham would also have been a solution but, for me, it just came down to wanting to try a new challenge in a new country. Once Inter came up it really wasn’t a difficult choice.”

Mourinho consistently refused to divulge Eriksen’s plans publicly and continued to use the midfielder throughout January.

AFP via Getty Images

“I think Mourinho did well,” Eriksen said. “He could have said, ‘He wants to leave, so he is not going to play any more’. He didn’t do that. After I told him where my feelings were and what I would like to do, he told me just to be happy and if I was needed I would play.

“In the end it comes down to what Tottenham wants to have and what Inter, or any other club, want to pay. In the end you are controlled by Tottenham. You are controlled by [chairman Daniel] Levy. He says yes or no. You try to be as professional as you can be and not to force anything through.”

As well as Eriksen, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Victor Moses and Ashley Young have all joined Inter from the Premier League in the past six months.

AFP via Getty Images

“A bit of the English culture straight away and a bit of the English language,” Eriksen said. “I am not the only one who can’t understand everything in Italian. It is funny that so many players have come over, and also at the same club.”

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