Report: Christian Eriksen, Real Madrid Reach Verbal Agreement for Transfer

Real Madrid have reportedly reached a verbal agreement with Christian Eriksen that would see the Denmark international move from Tottenham Hotspur to the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer.

According to Manu de Juan of AS, Los Blancos have offered to increase Eriksen's €4 million (£3.4 million) yearly salary, but they have yet to start negotiations with Spurs over a transfer fee.

De Juan cited UK reports that Spurs value Eriksen at €150 million (£129 million).

Given the state of the transfer market, that's a reasonable valuation for a player of his quality.

However, it does seem on the high end given Eriksen will be entering the final year of his Spurs contract in June. In addition, Real are "optimistic" they can get him for less, per De Juan.

They will, though, have to deal with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who is a notoriously canny negotiator:

At 27 years old, Eriksen is in his prime years and is one of the best playmakers in world football.

Real are desperately in need of more creativity in their attack, as one of the notable characteristics of their disappointing 2018-19 campaign has been a lack of goals.

The cause is fairly obvious given Real averaged 2.8 goals per La Liga game in the nine seasons Cristiano Ronaldo was at the club, but that figure has dropped to under 1.7 this term since he departed to Juventus.

Eriksen would not be a replacement for Ronaldo, as he does not score anything like the same number of goals—31 over the last four Premier League seasons—nor does he play in the same position. He is, though, phenomenally creative and has returned 50 assists over the last four English top-flight campaigns.

Eriksen would likely make those attacking players already in the Real squad—and any more potentially added in the summer—more prolific, and help Zinedine Zidane's side return to their free-scoring ways.