Speculation over the future of Ajax star Christian Eriksen has reached fever pitch this month, and Liverpool continue to be linked with a summer move for the midfield maestro. Whoever ends up signing Eriksen will have some player on their hands, and Ajax coach Frank De Boer believes that the 20-year old can ultimately emulate the world's best player.
In an interview last week with Sporten.dk, De Boer - who recently confirmed that Liverpool scouts are 'often present' at the Amsterdam Arena - enthused:
"Barcelona dominate as a team until they play the ball to Messi, who can things that no one else can.
"That is also Christian's role here, and Eriksen has the potential to be like him".
Talk about piling pressure on Eriksen's shoulders! De Boer is clearly a student of the Steven Gerrard school of gross overhype (!). Perhaps talking him up like this is an attempt to add a few more millions onto the youngster's price tag...?
Last week, Liverpool legend Molby argued that Eriksen 'is exactly the type of player Liverpool should be looking at', and predicted that he 'has all the tools to become a top class player'. The Dane also sounded a note of caution, however. He told Eurosport:
"It is very exciting to be linked with a player of that quality, but I would suggest he [Eriksen] is another player who would need time to adjust to the Premier League"
Alas, it seems that £20m-rated Eriksen - who has 11 goals and 19 assists in 40 appearances this season - has his heart set on a move to one of Europe's elite clubs. He told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad this week:
"If I could play for clubs like Manchester City and PSG – why not? For me it is important that I have a good feeling at the club. I should be able to play football and then I could develop. I will be a better football player."
These sound like mercenary comments to me. If 20-year old Eriksen wants to 'play football', why on earth would he want to go to City or PSG, where his chances of being a regular would be minimal? You only have to look at the progress of young players over the last few years to see that youth prospects at those clubs are pretty grim.
It's also illuminating (IMO) that Eriksen just happens to name-check two of Europe's richest clubs. If he's really interested in developing as a player, he should go to a club where he's likely to play a lot of games, i.e. somewhere like Liverpool.
As a comparison, consider Bayern's Munich's Xherdan Shaqiri. One of the most sought-after young players in Europe last season, the 21-year old moved from FC Basle to Bayern, and he's barely made 10 starts in he Bundesliga this year.
If Eriksen ends up at City or PSG, then he deserves to rot away on the bench. It's great to have 'ambition', but if regular football and development is what he desires, he should set his sights a little lower.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
In an interview last week with Sporten.dk, De Boer - who recently confirmed that Liverpool scouts are 'often present' at the Amsterdam Arena - enthused:
"Barcelona dominate as a team until they play the ball to Messi, who can things that no one else can.
"That is also Christian's role here, and Eriksen has the potential to be like him".
Talk about piling pressure on Eriksen's shoulders! De Boer is clearly a student of the Steven Gerrard school of gross overhype (!). Perhaps talking him up like this is an attempt to add a few more millions onto the youngster's price tag...?
Last week, Liverpool legend Molby argued that Eriksen 'is exactly the type of player Liverpool should be looking at', and predicted that he 'has all the tools to become a top class player'. The Dane also sounded a note of caution, however. He told Eurosport:
"It is very exciting to be linked with a player of that quality, but I would suggest he [Eriksen] is another player who would need time to adjust to the Premier League"
Alas, it seems that £20m-rated Eriksen - who has 11 goals and 19 assists in 40 appearances this season - has his heart set on a move to one of Europe's elite clubs. He told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad this week:
"If I could play for clubs like Manchester City and PSG – why not? For me it is important that I have a good feeling at the club. I should be able to play football and then I could develop. I will be a better football player."
These sound like mercenary comments to me. If 20-year old Eriksen wants to 'play football', why on earth would he want to go to City or PSG, where his chances of being a regular would be minimal? You only have to look at the progress of young players over the last few years to see that youth prospects at those clubs are pretty grim.
It's also illuminating (IMO) that Eriksen just happens to name-check two of Europe's richest clubs. If he's really interested in developing as a player, he should go to a club where he's likely to play a lot of games, i.e. somewhere like Liverpool.
As a comparison, consider Bayern's Munich's Xherdan Shaqiri. One of the most sought-after young players in Europe last season, the 21-year old moved from FC Basle to Bayern, and he's barely made 10 starts in he Bundesliga this year.
If Eriksen ends up at City or PSG, then he deserves to rot away on the bench. It's great to have 'ambition', but if regular football and development is what he desires, he should set his sights a little lower.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
He should go for first team football. Lots of potential. Liverpool would be ideal for him. I thought it was a done deal a few days back. O_o
ReplyDeleteAgree with your sentiments jamie. This guy is not the one for us imo.
ReplyDeleteWe need players who want to play for us and can see the merits of being a first teamer at a 'mid-size' club, as opposed to a bench warmer at a top CL club. Having said that, he has a taste for the CL now, so its tough to step back.
Look elsewhere imo.
Sounds like this kid has dollar signs in his eyes! forget him, Man City or PSG? a mercenary i would say!!
ReplyDeleteSteven G is overhyped??? never knew that! I mean a player that the so called two best midfielders in the world says they would play with any day. That's quiet astonishing!
ReplyDeletei remember when we used to be an elite club ,players like eriksen will help us get back there again ,why should lfc settle for 2nd best ,if were intent on signing young players [fsg,s policy ) thats fine but please do not expect me to be pleased with signing the 3rd string of the best young talent,ynwa
ReplyDeleteHe meant Stevie G overhype the teammates like for instance he called Joe Cole, Messi.
ReplyDeleteDisagree somewhat with the mercenary claims. He might personally think that he is good enough to go to City and be a regular starter. I don't see anything wrong with having confidence in your own ability.
ReplyDeleteYeah that one Steven G was smoking something! But C.Evans I see what you saying.
ReplyDeleteEriksen is an extremely talented young player and in virtue of that fact he's the right man for us. If we want to push for a top four spot next year we need to buy top quality players and eriksen is such a player. The fact that he mentioned city and psg is no illustration that he doesn't care about playing first team football? He's already the best player in a strong Ajax team so there's no reason he couldn't play first team football at either of those sides. The kind of players that want to go to mid table sides are the kind of players that are only good enough for mid table sides and that's not what we want to be. The true question is whether we could attract such a promising young talent. If we can we should sign him up without hesitation
ReplyDeleteAll I'm saying is that if this deal ends up never taking place (which I believe will be the case unfortunately) then we should be looking at players such as keisuke Honda and yoann gourcuff. Both experienced, both would suit out style of player (the former more so IMO) and both are versatile. Both of them would demand a relatively low fee compared to eriksen. Personally I think Honda would make much more impact than eriksen. But we'll ignore him once again and go for a random player who had 1 good season. I still can't believe why we never went for gaston Ramirez instead of Allen.
ReplyDeleteSo here we are looking at a 20 year old but 20 mil pounds rated player again.
ReplyDeletechris i love it when i get a post of a superfan like you if all fans were like you we could wollow away in the championship and still be a big club,facts are facts,i agree we are still a massive club but every year of failure takes a bit of respect away
ReplyDeleteplease joe cole and messi in the same sentence,cole was a overhyped average british player the media as a way of building them up,the world cups tell you how average our so called world class british players are
ReplyDeleteha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ReplyDeletedeluded fool
and you're the kind of deluded fool that get's it wrong every time......"trust me".....united, chelsea, city DO look at liverpool and think mid table team, they are of course wary.....but you pose no threat whatsoever to the top 4...."trust me"
ReplyDeleteguys its easy for rodgers to rebrand this team.here is how.1.he must sell andy carol for 16m to westham,10m cash and the other 6m through getting mohamed diame from westham.2.he must sell skertel and coates afor a combined 19m.with this he must buy lovren the croatian defender for 9m and then the ajax young defender for 7m,leaving a balance of 3m. 3. he must sell john flanagan for 2m and add wih the 3m and buy tom ince for 5m.4 he must sell jay spearo for 4m,pacheco for 3m,assaidi for 3m,brad jones for 2m giving us 12m.with this he add to the 20m the owners are giving him and then buy jackson martinez for 30m. he must sell downing for i dont see stew peaking or bettering what he has done so far for liverpool.stew can easily give us 9m plus the 2m remaining and use this to buy erickson from ajax.he must sell fabio and buy the reading keeper from the proceeds.our line up should be somthing like this
ReplyDeletereina/marcathy,johnson/wisdom,agger/alderwiled,lovren/kelly,enrique/robinson,momo diame/lucas,gerrard/allen,erickson/henderson,suarez/sterling,martinez/sturidge,coutinho/ince.
Damn, that's 2 first grade teams you got there!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah all the greats got to where they are by setting their sights lower......
ReplyDeleteAs an example of how big Liverpool are, Melbourne have announced that the pre-season game with Liverpool is a 103,000 sell-out months in advance. The Aussies were inundated for tickets way in excess of the capacity of the MCG, thats how big we are!!!
ReplyDeleteHe was asked specifically by a reporter about PSG or Man City, he was only replying to the question. This is taken out of context.What else was he supposed to say. If Liverpool really want him i'm sure they will be able to get him.
ReplyDeleteEriksen was only replying to a direct question from a reporter about whether he could play for PSG or Man City. This quote has been taken completely out of context. If Liverpool really want him i'm sure they will get him.
ReplyDeleteWhy was my previous comment removed.
I agree whole heartedly i thought myself when reading his comments it spelt mercenary i would not miss a minutes sleep if he doesnt come i would prefer Alcantara anyway and he would be a lot cheaper.
ReplyDeleteShaqiri has played 22 games for Bayern this season even if only 10 starts in a side who is flying and very strong from a attacking force
ReplyDeleteStill only 21/22 so 22 games not to bad
shaqiri has actually come on well this season at bayern, and also to suggest eriksen would hardly play for city or psg is ridiculous. if these clubs wanted him they would play him because he is actually a class player unlike rodwell and sinclair at city. look at veratti, a youngster bought at psg, he plays all the time so i dont see your arguement here. maybe eriksen said those clubs because they are ambitious and will be challenging for major honours in the seasons to come. obviously he will want as much money as possible but if that was the only reason he would have already left ajax.
ReplyDeleteNow send Stoke City to Melbourne and you will see the attraction a mid table team gets
ReplyDeleteNot a super fan tbh I know when we play shit and under preform and would be the first to complain but what we are doing is rebuilding not under preforming, to be in the position where we are still fighting for Europe (very very slim chance) at this point in the season is amazing, first half of the season the average age of our team was about 19 and for that fact alone i think we have had a brilliant season it could have been so much worse, this group in a couple of years will be putting the shits up everyone in the CL
ReplyDeleteThere was nothing wrong with that reply? was just saying i do complain just dont think the team deserves it atm as with half a season of average age being 19 to be still in with a look at Europe is a very good season.
ReplyDeletenothing wrong with your reply your entitled to your opinion
ReplyDeleteWe're also the only foreign club in history to sell out the Malaysian national stadium: Real, Man Utd & Chelsea couldn't do that!
ReplyDeletesend stoke to stoke and see the attraction they get
ReplyDeleteLOL
ReplyDelete