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Christian Eriksen’s performances are increasingly pointing towards a permanent move away from Tottenham Hotspur this summer.

Another flat performance against Chelsea

When the creative hub ticks the entire attacking dynamic changes. Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva have both struggled to find their rhythm for Manchester City of late, Pablo Hernandez is lacking the nous which has defined the majority of his season at Leeds United and Eriksen has also fallen flat at Spurs.

The Wednesday night clash against Chelsea underlined the diminishing standard of his recent performances. The Denmark international’s pass accuracy of just 70.6% was considerably the lowest of any player in Pochettino’s starting XI.

Impulse would force more sympathetic onlookers to suggest that his wastefulness was merely a natural consequence of his desire to slice open the opposition. That is, after all, his primary objective on the field of play.

But that defence cannot stand its ground against the statistics: Eriksen failed to make a single key pass in the whole game.

The BBC’s chief sports writer, Phil McNulty, described Eriksen as ‘on the margins’ against Chelsea, and that’s probably a touch on the generous side.

The most alarming takeaway from the fixture was not the single performance in isolation, it was that Eriksen’s no-show was true to recent form. He did score and provide an assist against Leicester City earlier this month, granted, but those two moments aside he struggled to operate with the same zest and flair which is typically associated with the 27-year-old.

Real Madrid bound?

It’s no coincidence that Eriksen’s form has taken a considerable dip since the turn of the year. According to The Independent, Real Madrid made the initial steps to prise Tottenham’s crown jewel away from north London at the beginning of January, with a summer deal being mooted by the respected journalist Miguel Delaney.

With less than 18 months left on Eriksen’s current deal, it would appear that there is a substantial weight of credibility behind these reports, and his lacklustre form since the turn of the year would also suggest that his head has been turned.

Something does not seem quite right with the dynamic number ten, and the fact a downturn in form has coincided with reports linking him with a move to Los Blancos is absolutely no coincidence.