It’s fair to say Morten Olsen and Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen haven’t always appeared to have the best relationship.
Olsen, who is the last manager of Denmark and had been in the role for 15 years, grew frustrated with Eriksen not repeating his Tottenham form for his country.
In October 2015, Denmark’s BT went with the headline ‘Olsen’s furious harsh criticism of Eriksen: ‘It’s a brutal world”
That was in response to Olsen saying “With so many matches he must be able at a high level to pick up the ball and help to control the game. He has not now, and therefore we blame him. And he must be able to handle the criticism, and he does, too.
“It’s a brutal world out there, otherwise you have to play at another level. It is not Ajax no more. It is not development. He is only 22 years old, I know. But he has been four years in the national team and had a fantastic season for Tottenham last year. So with the tools he has, he must stand the criticism. He has also been told by us.
“…He must fix the mistakes he makes. I remember his first two touches of the ball in the second half. It’s something you can criticise a player like Christian Eriksen for. It should not take place. He must not make the mistake, it is sloppiness.”
The Tottenham star’s agent was furious and sent an email to the Danish FA, Eriksen himself had explained more than once that it was difficult to transfer his Tottenham form because he was playing in a different system with different players.
This time around Olsen is praising Eriksen and he believes the Tottenham player has set himself up for a future move to one of La Liga’s giants.
Eriksen is being celebrated in Denmark’s sport media on Friday because he’s in great form for Tottenham and has been nominated for the Premier League player of the month award.
Danish newspaper BT quote Eriksen as saying: “With time, I think, well, he can play for the biggest clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona.”
The last Dane to play for one of the Spanish giants was Thomas Gravesen, over 10 years ago, and so there’d be many Danish football fans excited by the prospect.
Olsen went on to say: “He is in a period now where he is in a good football team. It is also what makes football players better. He is in the right place. Tottenham has always had a tradition of playing good football, and they do that even now.
“Sometimes he has a bad period, but so do all the people. But he will over a whole season always be an important piece. Hopefully he will be even more important – either at Tottenham or another club.
“Tottenham is a top club – also in Europe. There will always be clubs that are bigger, but it is often about timing. When there are free seats? Who is the manager or president? There are many influences. But there are not many who doubt that he has the qualities. I certainly do not.”
Olsen believes the Tottenham player also has the mentality to cope with a move to Real Madrid or Barcelona transfer should it come along.
It’s nothing much for Tottenham to worry about, there’s just excitement in Denmark that Eriksen is playing well. It wasn’t so long ago the Danish media were fretting the player wasn’t repeating his form of last season.
