Martin Jol has revealed in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport that he warned Daniel Levy about the cost of Tottenham losing Christian Eriksen.
Levy felt forced into selling the Dane to Inter Milan in January, recouping only £16.9m to avoid losing him on a free, fee according to BBC Sport.
Based on his chat with the Italian press, Jol is a huge admirer of Eriksen, describing him as a “leader” whom he told Levy Spurs cannot do without.
Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Jol said: “There are many players at Inter in his position: if you think he is the best, then he has to play. If he is just one of the 24, then this is a problem.”
“I always said to the Tottenham president, Daniel Levy, ‘if you sell him, it will be a problem’, because Christian was the leader and the extra man for Spurs. Now he can be that at Inter: Conte is a top manager. He will know how best to use him.”
Jol’s advice to Levy must be dated, as the chairman had no choice but to sell in the last transfer window, and even Jol would have to admit that. If it was a forewarning going back a couple of years, Levy failed to heed it.
I’d strongly argue with the Dutchman’s description of Eriksen as a leader, especially as he goes on to justify this by implying the 27-year-old needs to be made to feel special to get the best out of him. That’s not leadership.
We haven’t felt the loss of Eriksen yet; we’ve been too busy feeling the loss of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. Only time will tell if Jol was right.