ERIKSEN IS THE MAN WHO MAKE SPURS TICK

I HAVE been saying for more than a year that Christian Eriksen is one of the top players in Europe. I don’t see a team in the Champions League that he doesn’t get into, which is worrying for Spurs. His contract runs until 2020 and he and the club have a huge decision to make.

His game has the feel of what Luka Modric was to the team I played in. We had some outstanding players such as Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart. But Luka had something extra. He knitted us together as a team.

That’s how I view Christian and you could see it when he came on against Inter on Wednesday. Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Son Heung-min are wonderful players. But when Christian plays, they react off him and play better. He’s like a catalyst. Christian brings the team together: the player everyone looks for when they have the ball. He takes responsibility for the ball in deep areas and with the goals he’s now adding, that makes him irreplaceable.

I hope the second half of the season is really strong for Tottenham and that the move to the new stadium provides a momentum that means he can see his future there. He’s been with the club for five years, developing and improving every season: to lose him now would be heartbreaking.

One more thing: when Gareth Bale left, it is pretty much accepted Tottenham spent the £100million badly. And, of course, Roberto Soldado and Vlad Chiriches didn’t work out. But that summer they also bought Erik Lamela and Eriksen, the latter for £12.5m.

So maybe it didn’t turn out quite so bad.