NEW Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho suggested that he would have sold wantaway star Christian Eriksen, had he been in charge of Spurs in the summer.
Eriksen is one of a number of the club’s stars, including Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, that are out of contract in the summer.
Jose Mourinho likened Eriksen’s situation with that he faced at Chelsea when Arjen Robben wanted to leave
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And speaking on one of his appearances on Sky Sports this season, Mourinho said: “I don’t like to keep players that don’t want to stay at the club.
“I think it is always really difficult. I am not thinking about the economical perspective, I mean from a motivational point of view.
“We sold Robben to Real Madrid, Chelsea didn’t want to or need the money. But he didn’t want to be there and wanted to go.
“There are some moments where motivation affects performance and it is difficult to keep players happy when they have other dreams.”
Tottenham failed to offload Eriksen in the summer.
With the Dane reportedly dreaming of a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid.
Only Manchester United showed any concrete interest.
And with Daniel Levy reluctant to sell to a Premier League rival, the 27-year-old stayed put.
His performances have been regularly criticised this season – with fans believing that his heart isn’t in it any more at Spurs.
Eriksen has featured regularly this season despite poor form and transfer speculation – but was left out of the starting XI for what turned out to be Mauricio Pochettino’s last two games in charge.
Mourinho was also asked about whether Spurs would be a difficult side to manage this season, to which he said: “I think they showed clearly the group is fantastic with lots of young and English players.
“Of course, they were very close to making history. Once more, they kept their best players, brought in Ndombele and Lo Celso.
“I thought they would be ready for that challenge (for the title).”
The Special One’s first game in charge will be a London derby against West Ham on Saturday.
And his first home game will be Tottenham’s crunch Champions League clash with Olympiacos next Tuesday.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
