We heard one of the delightful transfer news on Monday. Premier League club Brentford FC announced the signing of free agent Christian Eriksen. With the signing, the Denmark midfielder completed a stunning comeback seven months after suffering a cardiac attack on the pitch during their Euro 2020 campaign last year.
Since suffering a cardiac arrest in June, Eriksen has not played and has been training with former side Ajax Amsterdam to build up his fitness. Doctors gave him the go-ahead to return to football last month.
Last December, Inter Milan and Christian Eriksen mutually decided to terminate his contract with the club after the incident that stunned the football family.
In October, Inter Milan announced that the Italian medical authority had suspended Eriksen from playing in Serie A due to a rule prohibiting the use of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) device. In Italy, footballers can’t play using such implantables.
Eriksen joined Inter Milan from Tottenham Hotspur in 2020. He signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with the club and debuted the following day after coming as a substitute for Alexis Sanchez. Under Antonio Conte, the player was not getting more chances, and Lukaku once said that Eriksen is struggling because of the language barrier in Italy.
But, the former Tottenham midfielder was crucial in some matches where the team struggled. He was subbed on in the Copa Italia quarterfinals against their arch-rivals AC Milan when the score was 1-1. He scored from a direct freekick in the stoppage time and sent them through the semifinals. It was his first goal for Nerazzurri. He also scored an important goal in Serie A, which was crucial for winning the Serie A title after 11 years. They won the title with four matches to spare and ended the nine-year domination of Juventus in Serie A.
At the beginning of December, he restarted training at Odense Boldklub’s training facilities. Odense Boldklub was his youth club where he started to take the first steps to become a professional career, and after that, he left for Ajax, where he began his senior career.
Premier League fans will be excited to see the Danish midfielder back in England. Brentford was able to sign him mainly because of his connection with the Brentford manager. Christian played for Denmark’s Under-17 side when Thomas was coach of that group. He progressed quickly through the international ranks, making his full debut for Denmark, aged 18.
“I am looking forward to working with Christian again. It has been a while since I last coached him, and a lot has happened since then. Christian was 16 at the time and has become one of the best midfield players to appear in the Premier League. He has also won trophies all over Europe and become the star of the Danish national team,” Thomas Frank said.