Thomas Frank: Christian Eriksen is Brentford’s ‘greatest signing’ - it’ll be ‘unbelievable’ to see him back

Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Ima
Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_3 February 2022

Thomas Frank has hailed the arrival of Christian Eriksen as the greatest signing in Brentford’s history, but says he does not yet know when fans can expect to see him on the pitch.

Eriksen signed for the Bees as a free agent on deadline day earlier this week as he closes on a remarkable return to action, having not played competitively in the eight months since his horrifying collapse at Euro 2020.

The 29-year-old will fly to the UK on Sunday and train with his new teammates for the first time at the start of next week, though when he will be ready to make his debut remains unclear.

“It’s potentially the greatest signing ever for the club,” Frank said on Thursday. “It is going to be an unbelievable day, the day Christian steps onto the pitch.

“All of you have seen him performing for years as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and what happened to him in June was crazy, a shock for all of us. So, to see him out there on the pitch soon is going to be a big day.”

“It’s more or less impossible for me to say when he will be available,” Frank added. “I’ll be much more clever on Monday when I’ve seen him, worked with him and talked with his physical coach.

“I hope a few weeks but I don’t know.”

Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest during Denmark’s group match against Finland in Copenhagen last June and needed to be resuscitated by medics on the pitch while teammates formed a protective shield.

The incident stunned those watching around the world, including countryman Frank, who coached Eriksen early in his career during his time working with the national team’s youth sides.

“[He was] a young boy with unbelievable ball talent, a natural mover,” Frank recalled. “I remember the first game I was in charge for the U17 national team, we played against Sweden and won 2-1.

“After ten minutes, he was on the half-turn, opened up, diagonal pass, right-foot, boof, just like that, on a string. Twenty minutes later, open up, turn forward, left-foot, diagonal pass, just perfect. So, I thought: ‘Okay, this is a pretty good player’.

“That day [last summer] I was with my two eldest children watching the game. We saw him fall over on the pitch and instantly when I saw that situation I thought: ‘This is not good’. You could see the way he fell to the ground, it’s not natural, he wasn’t tripping over or anything.

“It was a crazy situation, I had goosebumps and a shock. I’m sitting there with two of my children and I could just imagine what Christian’s parents felt, or his friends, or his girlfriend. It must’ve been a horrible situation to be in.”

Eriksen was fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator as he set out to make a comeback with a view to playing in this year’s World Cup in Qatar but was released by Inter Milan on account of Serie A rules, which do not allow players to play with the heart-starting device.

The Italian side’s loss looks to be Brentford’s gain, the Premier League newcomers pulling off a a transfer that would have been unimaginable a year ago. But it also looks to be a smart fit for Eriksen himself, who returns to the league and city where he enjoyed such success with Tottenham, walking into a dressing room that includes several of his international teammates, including Christian Norgaard and Mathias Jensen.

“I think because of the circumstances, I think naturally some of the bigger clubs weren’t that interested to take that risk or chance,” Frank said, explaining the deal. “I think Christian was aware of that.

“But I also think that after this crazy experience, it’s something he knows: Premier League, London, some teammates he already knows, the Danish connection. I did not feel that I had to persuade him or seduce him like I normally do with other players. It was more explaining how our environment is and I thought he would like it.”

Eriksen has signed a short-term contract until the end of the season but Frank is optimistic that, all being well, he could extend his stay.

“I can’t see why not but first and foremost we need to get him up to his match pace and his normal level,” he added. “Hopefully, we’ll all see a world class player playing for Brentford. That would be amazing and he’ll help us in the league.

“After that, what happens in the summer I don’t know but like anything else, if he’s happy and we’re happy, I can’t see why he shouldn’t continue.”

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