Christian Eriksen came off the bench during Spurs’ 3-1 in over Aston Villa last weekend and there are fears that the playmaker might not start the Man City game as well.
There have been numerous rumours claiming that the Spurs man could be on his way out of the club before the end of this with La Liga giants Real Madrid seemingly interested in signing him.
And speaking about his team selection for the Man City game, Pochettino did not outrightly claim that Christian Eriksen will start for them at the Eithad.
Poch said: “We will see. Only 11 players can start. I am happy last week how he did, his performance in training. contract situation make a difference to selection.
“No. For me, it is the same if a player has a year or five years.
“The selection is not because of the length of the contract, it is about the performance. I will take the decision based on the performance, not the contract or personal situations.”
And to add more fuel to the fire the Argentinian boss went further to say that he had no idea whether Christian Eriksen would remain at the club or not.
“I do not know. My point is to help and support all the players until they decide to take a different way in their career,” the manager added.
“And show respect to all. Sometimes it is difficult to understand outside of the club that respect means respect if the player plays or does not play.
“One thing is my decision but that human relationship cannot be based on if you play or not play. The most important thing is to respect the person first, and then to take your professional decision.
“Your professional decision cannot affect your human relationship.
“If it affects your relationship it’s because only you can have this professional relationship and you cannot talk about personal things, to try to develop or go further in your relationship with the players.
“Sometimes you are confused in general that the players when they play are so happy and the coaching staff are the best coaching staff in the world, then if you decide that they don’t play, or are on the bench, or are out of the squad, you are the worst person in the world.
“It’s not like this. The people need to understand.
“If you take the decision it’s thinking based only on performance and trying to provide the team with the best dynamic and trying to beat the opponent.”
Christian Eriksen made a positive impact when he came on right after the hour-mark vs Villa and the fans will be hoping that Pochettino can keep the contract dilemma out of the way and hand the playmaker his first start of the new campaign vs Man City.
