Christian Eriksen close to agreeing move to Inter Milan

By Gary Jacob

Christian Eriksen is a step closer to leaving Tottenham Hotspur after reaching an agreement in principle with Inter Milan worth about £100,000 a week after tax.

The Denmark playmaker has been offered a four-year contract to move to the Italian club, where he would be one of the highest-paid players.

Tottenham want to sell him for about £20 million this month to prevent him leaving as a free agent in the summer and because of a perceived lack of effort on the pitch, highlighted by a poor display before being substituted in the 1-0 league defeat by Liverpool on Saturday.

Inter had talks with Martin Schoots, Eriksen’s agent, yesterday and they expect him to return to Italy to formalise the agreement this week. It is unclear whether the contract offer is based on the player being free. Eriksen, 27, appears willing to wait for offers from other clubs, even strengthening his hand by waiting until the summer.

After the defeat by Liverpool, which left Tottenham nine points outside the Champions League places, Eriksen increased speculation that a move was imminent when he appeared to linger on the pitch waving to home fans and handed his shirt to a supporter with a Denmark flag.

Eriksen said he wanted to leave Tottenham in June and hoped that Real Madrid would turn their interest into a firm offer but Real balked at the price tag and there appeared to be conflicting opinions about him inside the Spanish club. Eriksen joined Tottenham from Ajax for £11.5 million in 2013 and he signed a new contract worth about £90,000 a week in 2016. This season he has started only ten of his 18 league matches, scoring twice.

Olivier Giroud also seems set to join Inter after agreeing personal terms on an 18-month deal. A fee for the Chelsea forward has still to be agreed.

This article originally appeared in The Times