David Moyes isn’t a coach who accepts anything less than 100 per cent commitment to the cause. The ousting of Felipe Anderson and Manuel Lanzini in place of Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Fornals should tell you that much.
But surely Moyes would be willing to find a place in his well-oiled West Ham United machine for Christian Eriksen. With one of the planet’s finest playmakers available for transfer, this feels like an opportunity too good to pass up.
As you may have heard by now, Eriksen’s Inter Milan career appears dead in the water less than 12 months after he was unveiled to such grand ceremony in the shadows of the San Siro.
And Tottenham fans might mock reports suggesting Eriksen could be on his way back to London, tail tucked between his legs and reputation scarred so soon after he forced a move away from the Premier League title-chasers.
West Ham, however, have history when it comes to giving a loving home to some of football’s mercurial rascals. And, if Eriksen achieves even half of what Paolo di Canio did at Upton Park, he too will be worth every penny of the substantial fee West Ham would have to pay to bring him back to the English capital.
“Eriksen is elegant,” Di Canio told Sky, via Sempre Inter, when it became clear the string-pulling midfield maestro was ill-suited to life in Antonio Conte’s oil-flecked engine room.
“But he was in a different context in Pochettino’s line-up.
“Antonio (Conte) wanted (Arturo) Vidal, the perfect player for his way of thinking about football. The Chilean is a midfielder with character, who knows how to fight back and has grit.
“In January, a different player arrived (Eriksen), which is not to say a worse player but one who actually drove us crazy because he played in the Premier League.”
Eriksen has started just 11 Serie A matches since moving to Italy and, after publicly expressing his frustration at his reduced role in Conte’s plans, Inter director Beppe Marotta admitted no-one would stand in his way if the former Ajax star wanted to leave (Goal).
That, in the eyes of Di Canio, would be the best possible solution to a growing problem.
“Eriksen will become a problem for Conte,” the West Ham legend added. “He is not like Diego Costa, with whom you can fight if you don’t let him play.
“He is a guy like (Eden) Hazard. He is silent, you don’t see him much. He never complains but it is difficult to have a direct and frank confrontation. With Eriksen, Tottenham had the chance to lose dangerous balls because there were those who ran for him. At Inter, they can’t afford counter-attacks.”
Eurosport claims West Ham could launch an ambitious attempt to bring Eriksen back to England with Inter looking for £25 million (FC Inter News).
Perhaps concerns over his work rate have been a tad overblown? And, if the 28-year-old was allergic to furious pressing and hard work, there would have been no place for him in Pochettino’s high-octane Spurs side.
Eriksen’s lack of game time at Inter is more a result of Conte’s rigid 3-5-2 formation – a system without a natural number 10.
Although whether Moyes is willing to alter a winning West Ham formula to make room for what would be a potentially game-changing addition remains to be seen.
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