Damsgaard the obvious replacement for Eriksen at Tottenham

A inventive drive, a talismanic presence, and a fan favorite, Christian Eriksen was central to Tottenham Hotspur throughout his close to seven yr keep in north London.

In that point, the implausible Dane made 305 appearances for Spurs, registered an unimaginable 159 objective contributions, and received the membership’s participant of the yr twice – no imply feat if you’re competing with Harry Kane.

When he left for Inter in January 2020, the duty of filling the opening he left within the Spurs aspect was by no means going to be a simple one.

Over the previous year-and-a-half, we have seen the likes of Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, Erik Lamela, and even Lucas Moura occupy that quantity ten position for Spurs, whereas Dele Alli hardly obtained a glance in below Jose Mourinho.

Not one of the above, nonetheless, have managed to inject the identical impression that Eriksen offered for the Premier League membership and one thing has clearly been missing.

The spatial consciousness, imaginative and prescient, inventive streak, and motion that allowed the Dane to dictate play is uncommon and mightily tough to interchange however Tottenham lastly have the best candidate to succeed Eriksen on the membership – Mikkel Damsgaard.

The 21-year-old was one in every of Denmark’s brightest sparks at Euro 2020 and seamlessly adopted Eriksen’s talismanic position for the nationwide aspect following the Inter man’s cardiac arrest on matchday one. After debut season in Serie A with Sampdoria, rather a lot was anticipated of Damsgaard this summer time and he did nothing however exceed everybody’s hopes.

The similarities to Eriksen are clear. He possesses the flexibility to always decide up pockets of area and transfer defences round, the imaginative and prescient to unlock a recreation with a go, a progressive thoughts that does nothing however search for a ahead transfer, and the killer intuition to create and rating targets. He was Kasper Hjulmand’s apparent option to step in and decide up Eriksen’s workload – a frightening process.

To easily have these traits so blatantly at a younger age is one factor, however to use them so brilliantly in such a massively emotional and overwhelming scenario on one in every of world soccer’s largest phases may be very a lot one other.

Damsgaard was sensational all through the event and carried his aspect when going ahead. He was creator-in-chief, the shining gentle that others regarded to, and the one which took duty for thrilling and beautiful inventive play – and, at simply 21, he could not have regarded extra comfy doing it.

Coming into Euro 2020, Damsgaard had earned simply three caps for Denmark. Following his aspect’s semi-final exit, he has eight and has change into an important cog in his nation’s admirable machine.

A surprising objective in opposition to Russia in Denmark’s closing group recreation, a intelligent help in opposition to Wales within the spherical of 16, and a superb free kick in opposition to England within the final 4 is the proof that exhibits simply how completed Damsgaard regarded on the event.

And it is not simply his output that makes him so distinctive. Denmark’s passionate togetherness over the course of the competitors was epitomised by their forwards’ defensive contributions. Damsgaard not solely confirmed off his glittering attacking expertise, however demonstrated his collective angle with a self-discipline befitting of some past his years.

The 21-year-old proved his all-round brilliance this summer time and, whereas he will not be low-cost, Spurs have to safe his signature to succeed Eriksen on the membership – simply as he’s doing on the worldwide stage.