On the 30th of August 2013, Tottenham completed three transfers and brought their total of summer acquisitions to seven.

With Gareth Bale having departed the club, former Spurs goalkeeper Erik Thorstvedt observed in a half-time interview that they had "sold Elvis and bought the Beatles."

Sadly, that proved something of an overestimation, and of the so-called Magnificent Seven signed with the Bale bonanza, the majority underwhelmed.

One exception has been Christian Eriksen.

The Danish playmaker has impressed since his debut in September 2013, when he assisted one of Gylfi Sigurdsson's two goals, and he eventually won the club's player of the year award for the regrettable 2013–14 season.

Eriksen is an attacking midfielder and was given a free role in both Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood's systems in that debut campaign.

In his Ajax career, the little Dane produced the output of a typical No. 10. He drifted freely from his wide starting position to create chances and reliably score goals. He led the club to three consecutive domestic league titles.

Since the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino in the summer of 2014, Eriksen's role has stabilised, and he has been forced to adapt to a more hard-working, less flashy part in the team.

Last season was the equal-worst in his career in terms of goal output. He scored eight times in all competitions. No observer would argue that his play was anything but consistently excellent.

Generally deployed on the left flank of the three-man attacking midfield line, Eriksen is able to observe the game without over-exerting himself in the early exchanges.

According to WhoScored.com, Eriksen was officially posted on the left 17 times last season and centrally 18 times.

In practice though, he tends to drift into an inside-left position and find pockets of space from which to direct Spurs play.

He will move further inside to allow one of the other attacking midfielders, usually Erik Lamela or Dele Alli, to exploit space with their superior athleticism but tends to revert to a position slightly outside the center.

Eriksen's understanding of the demands of Pochettino's structure has made him vital to the team, quite apart from his direct attacking contribution.

He is constantly on the move, roving around, searching for weak points in the opposition's positioning but is rarely caught out of position.

The fluidity of Tottenham's attacking line means that Eriksen is rarely put under the physical pressure that can blunt a diminutive playmaker.

In fact, he tends to exert the greatest influence later in games as the opposition's destructive players fade physically and space opens up for him to conduct the play.

Defensive midfield duo Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele furnish him with possession, and he converts that into attacking moves.

From his slightly removed position, Eriksen is able to choose his moments to intervene.

He completed an average of 42 passes per game last season, relatively few for such an important playmaker, but his 71 percent rate of forward passes, per Squawka, shows his specific, attacking approach.

Given that center forward Harry Kane likes to also drop into pockets of space, Eriksen is not an ideal option as a No. 10.

He lacks the instinct to drive forward into the opposition box that Alli and Lamela possess. Instead, he prefers to snipe at goal from distance or simply shift the ball on quickly.

It is interesting to note that despite the perceived, relative weakness of the Eredivisie, Eriksen has actually slightly improved his scoring rate since moving from Ajax.

He is the most feared free-kick taker in England and among Europe's finest exponents of the dead ball.

Of course, no player in a Pochettino team can be adequately analysed without giving consideration to their defensive role.

Eriksen initially struggled with the demands of Pochettino's ultra-aggressive pressing system and was dropped from the starting lineup.

He has since found his place in the Spurs' system and wins the ball with regularity despite lacking the tenacity of many of his teammates.

He will never throw himself bodily into a challenge like Lamela or go to ground to win possession like Alli, but Eriksen is clever with his body positioning and triggers turnovers high up the pitch.

When he arrived at Spurs, Eriksen was happy to simply express himself and leave his mark on a match.

He has developed, particularly under Pochettino's guidance, into a more effective team player that is focused on wins.

Tottenham's 2015-16 season was their best in decades and Eriksen's continued growth was a big reason why.