Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has spoken to wantaway midfielder Christian Eriksen about his future.
However, Mourinho has warned the Danish playmaker: “My club is more important than my players”.
Mourinho insisted when he arrived that Eriksen’s future needed to be resolved for him to be a regular starter.
But while Eriksen continues to eye the Spurs exit door, with his contract expiring next summer, he remains part of Mourinho’s squad.
Eriksen is yet to start a game for Spurs since Mourinho’s arrival, following the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino.
Yet he has been used from the bench in three of the first four matches under the Portuguese - most notably being called on as a 29th minute substitute in the Champions League comeback against Olympiacos.
Eriksen was keen to join Real Madrid last summer, but Blancos’ boss Zinedine Zidane was only interested in adding Paul Pogba to his midfield, thus leaving the 27 year-old in North London.
Manchester United are continuing to monitor the player and could mount a January move, amid suggestions that Spurs could deal for around £25million.
Asked about Eriksen's future on Friday ahead of Spurs' meeting with Burnley on Saturday, Mourinho said: "My feelings are until I have anything official, rather than hypothetical things and speculation, there is not much to comment.
"The only thing that is very, very objective is that the player is a free agent at the end of the season. That’s the only thing we know from a pragmatic point of view.
"Of course I have had a conversation with him, of course I have to defend the best interests of my club.
"My club is more important than my players and my players are more important than me. But the club is more important than any one of us, so that's the way I think.
"He is a fantastic player but the situation is I have to think first about the club’s interests. But I'm not going to tell you.
"If Christian wants to do it as a personal point of view about what we said, I'm perfectly fine with it. I have nothing to hide.
"I'm just not sharing it with you out of respect for the player."
