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Football London
Football London
Sport
Robert Warlow

Mauricio Pochettino makes frank admission about Spurs amid Christian Eriksen exit talk

Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham are “vulnerable” to bids for their players from European clubs in the remainder of August.

The transfer deadline has now passed in England, with Spurs completing the signings of Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon on deadline day, to add to the arrivals of Tanguy Ndombele and Jack Clarke earlier on in the window.

But with the deadlines across Europe not until later this month, Pochettino admits that Tottenham, like other clubs in England, are susceptible to speculation and potential bids for their players.

One such player who could fall into that category at Tottenham is Christian Eriksen, with the Danish international previously expressing at the beginning of the summer that it may be time for a new challenge.

That led to speculation linking him with a move to Real Madrid, and the La Liga giants could still make a bid to sign the 27-year-old, who only has one year left on his contract at Spurs.

Christian Eriksen during Spurs' Audi Cup game against Bayern Munich (PressFocus/MB Media/Getty Images)

And Pochettino admits that contract situations such as Eriksen's could have an impact for Spurs, although he says any decision will have to be made with a balance between football and business.

"I think it can be possible that maybe that makes Tottenham more vulnerable," Pochettino said, referring to the length of Eriksen's contract, among others within the Spurs squad.

Pochettino admitted that he "did not know" whether Spurs would need to sell any players between now and the end of the month, following the expenditure on the new stadium and after spending big on Ndombele and Sessegnon.

But he said he did feel that England should now move back in line with other European leagues when it comes to the deadline, with clubs in the Premier League not able to replace any players they may sell in the next few weeks.

Rob Guest on Spurs' deadline day

"That’s between the club and the players and there are different personal situations that will happen until the end when the windows shut across Europe. I have said before that can create a problem at clubs, not just ours.

"Because we shoot in our foot because we move early to close the transfer window, allowing the European clubs to talk with our players. But not only with Tottenham players, with Southampton players or Manchester players.”

"That is why when they decided to move the deadline and push it forward from the rest of Europe I was not for it because I knew it would create problems. It is not common sense.

"This is another point to argue about - the disadvantage with European clubs. They have 20 days more to operate.

"It was a big mistake for the Premier League to allow that. Sometimes, it's good because you're going to start the season but we opened the door for European clubs to allow confusion in your squad.

"If Europe doesn't change we need to go back and operate in the same way Europe operates. England cannot give this advantage to European clubs because we're going to compete with them. It's different if you don't compete in Champions League and Europe with them. But competing with European clubs, it's a big advantage to them. They can create a mess with us and big clubs in England."

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