Barcelona eyeing shock deal for Christian Eriksen

Barcelona have reportedly identified Tottenham's Christian Eriksen as the ideal player to snatch the La Liga title away from Real Madrid next season.

According to Spanish newspaper Don Balon, new Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde is interested in bringing Christian Eriksen to the Camp Nou. 

Valverde has been quick to implement changes since taking over, sanctioning the sales of up to nine players including Arda Turan, Andre Gomes, and Javier Mascherano. He has also been in the market for midfielders as the club was linked with moves for Manchester United's Ander Herrera and PSG's Marco Verratti.  

However, Valverde has now turned his attention to Eriksen after both Herrera and Verrati ruled out summer moves. 

The report by Don Balon stated that Barcelona can no longer dominate matches like they used to when the trident of Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, and Sergio Busquets were at the top of their game. The team is now solely reliant on the firepower of Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, and Neymar to win. 

Compared to Guardiola's Barcelona from 2009 to 2012, the club have indeed been unable to dominate possession and dictate play anymore. Messi was also instructed to play deeper at times this past season to help out a clearly struggling midfield. Valverde likely wants to bring back the kind of domination Guardiola had by shoring up his midfield trio and Eriksen seems like a perfect fit. 

Eriksen had a brilliant campaign for Tottenham, scoring 12 goals and registering an incredible 20 assists, more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues. While the Danish international would want to stay with Spurs and win the Premier League, a move to Barcelona could be hard to turn down.