Dele “sad” to see Eriksen leave Spurs

Dele says it was sad to see Christian Eriksen leave Tottenham and revealed that he hopes to catch up with his former teammate over dinner soon.

Eriksen finally ended a six-and-a-half-year stay at Spurs last week, joining Inter in a £17m deal after running down his contract in north London.

The 27-year-old made 305 appearances for Spurs after joining from Ajax for £11.5m in summer 2013, finishing with 69 goals and 89 assists, as well as two player of the year awards.

“It was sad for me and the other boys because he got on with everyone, he was a great squad player, he got on well, he was great in training and always working hard on the pitch.

“He gave me a lot of assists as well and I am going to miss them, but at the same time I wish him all the best and I am sure we will speak soon, maybe go for dinner.”

The Dane was jeered by sections of the home support in his final three appearances at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Spurs boss Jose Mourinho admitted Eriksen played “without great motivations” during last month’s transfer window.

But Dele said: “He’s been amazing. You don’t want to speak to him too much about what is going on but he has been giving 100 per cent, always been training hard, always been committed to the club.

“You read a lot and see a lot but you would never be able to tell that he wasn’t focused. He was always positive and never really spoke about anything other than Tottenham. It is a huge honour to have played with him and I wish him all the best.”

Eriksen made his first start for Inter as they beat Udinese 2-0 on Sunday to continue their Serie A title-push, while Spurs began life without him with an encouraging win over ten-man Manchester City by the same scoreline.

Second-half goals from debutant Steven Bergwijn and Heung-min Son earned Spurs a first landmark victory under Mourinho and moved them to within four points of fourth-placed Chelsea, who they face at Stamford Bridge on February 22.

Dele believes the result will do wonders for Tottenham’s confidence and believes a top four spot is now within reach.

“If you look at the table we know it is getting closer,” he said. “We obviously know it is going to be difficult but we know were we should be as a team, we know we have let ourselves down at times and not go the right results but we just have to take each game and keep improving and hopefully we will be up there at the end.

“It is a massive result for us in terms of confidence wise. We have had a few results that we were expecting to get the three points and we haven’t and it is tough to bounce back but Sunday was a great result. It is not an easy position, we know we have a lot of work to do but it gives us confidence going into the home stretch.”

(Standard Sport)

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