Still looking for that creative player



Chelsea have Eden Hazard, Arsenal have Alexis Sanchez, Manchester City have Kevin de Bruyne, Manchester United have Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Is Christian Eriksen in the same class?

All of them can play the defence-splitting pass, all of them can run at a defence and take on players, all of them can score regularly.

When you look at Christian Eriksen you see a player staying behind the ball, behind the play, you don't see him taking on players, his defence-splitting passes are few and far between against top sides and he doesn't get in the box to score regularly enough.

Well I wrote that a few weeks ago and since then he has been getting in the box and starting to score goals. The team had a talk with Mauricio Pochettino when we had a poor run and they sorted a few things out. That must have been one of the points made to Eriksen. We have to bare in mind we have not been playing the top sides lately so we'll have to see how he gets on against Chelsea.

We tried in the summer to sign several central attacking midfield players and ended up with Mousa Sissoko who we are converting into a winger it seems. With Erik Lamela injured, we have been lacking creativity from that area. He works hard as well, will Moussa Sissoko develop into an able deputy? The jury is out on that one, but we still need creativity centrally for competition to Dele Alli.

It would seem we have identified 20-year-old (21 next December) Franck Kessié as our main target, but then so have Manchester City, Chelsea, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal. Stiff competition who have perhaps more to offer than we do. All can play bigger wages, some regular Champions League football, some regular titles. It will depend upon what he wants, we'll have to wait and see, as his boss, Gian Piero Gasperini, doesn't expect him to leave in January.

"I don't think I will lose players. The interest is significant from the other clubs, but I don't think anyone will leave before June. Maybe we will have a stronger team."

Merry Christmas to each and every reader on this festive day. Enjoy yourselves. COYS



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