Christian Eriksen has had to make do with a place on the bench for Spurs in recent weeks following Jose Mourinho's arrival in north London.
In and out of the team during the final few months of Mauricio Pochettino's tenure, the Dane's only start under the new head coach came during Wednesday evening's 3-1 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Even though the midfielder looks certain to depart the club either in January or the summer, Mourinho has continued to keep him in the squad and he has so far appeared in four games.
Apart from playing a key role in the opening day win over Aston Villa and finding the net against Arsenal three weeks later, the 27-year-old has been way off his best and currently looks a shadow of his former self.
Asked if he can understand why some fans don't think his heart is in it at present given his contract situation in N17, Mourinho opened up his relationship with Eriksen and his recent performances.
"I cannot answer that. I think it is a personal thing. I am not going to share," he told reporters at Hotspur Way.
"He was so honest with me and I was so on honest with him that our relationship is really, really good.
"We have a very good relationship that started on day one. I am not going to betray that trust and relationship.
"I just share this intimate conversations with the structure of the club and Christian obviously knows I am an important part of the club and my job is to share with the structure but to you, it is not for me to say.
"It is up to Christian to tell anything he wants to or not."
He added: "Every time I play him, I think he shows clearly the quality he has and he tries to help the team when he’s on the pitch which is an important thing for me, independent of his future."
With many hoping for a parting of ways come January so both parties can move on, Mourinho remained coy when it was put to him if that should happen next month.
"I cannot answer that. I don’t know," he added.
"I only know his contract ends at the end of the season and the conversations I have had with Christian are private conversations that I am not going to share."
