Brentford manager Thomas Frank believes it will be “impossible” for Brentford to replace someone of the quality of Christian Eriksen after the Danish superstar’s move to Manchester United.
The 30-year-old midfielder chose Manchester United and signed a three-year-deal with them despite having an extension offer from Brentford and a reported recall from Tottenham Hotspur.
Before Eriksen had joined Brentford, they were one point above the relegation zone.
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Since the Denmark midfielder joined, the Bees won 22 points from a possible 30, thus ensuring they stayed in the Premier League for another season.
“I would have loved him to stay. He brought a lot of quality to us. We can’t replace that, it’s impossible to replace Eriksen’s quality”, said Thomas Frank to the Mail.
Back in May, Frank was confident Eriksen would stay on at Brentford despite having offers from Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.
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"Either he signs with us and everyone is going to be happy and the fans will build a statue of him outside the stadium in two or three years' time, or he goes to a bigger level and fans will applaud him and we will all say, 'Thank you for this time, go forward'," Frank said at that time.
"He helped the team, he gave something to the fans they had never seen before at this level," Frank said. "We helped him back to his football life again."
Eriksen made the move to Brentford after recovering from a cardiac arrest during Denmark’s Euro 2020 clash against Finland, in which he was saved in heroic fashion by his teammate Simon Kjaer, who displayed quick thinking and leadership to save his teammate’s life.
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The former Inter Milan star has been fitted with an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), in other words, a type of pacemaker, after he suffered said cardiac arrest.
Now, over a year later, Eriksen is United’s new No.14, is living a dream and even scored from a free-kick on his “unofficial” debut against Wrexham behind closed doors at Carrington on Wednesday.
The midfielder also came off the bench to feature in the final 20 minutes of Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in which he was easily the best player on the pitch.
Eriksen will form a crucial part of Manchester United’s squad in the new season as he brings something unique to the team in terms of his creativity, eye for a pass and also his ability to shoot from range.
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The prospect of Christian Eriksen in an attacking role is definitely a win-win situation for any striker considering the quality of service the Danish star provides from the middle of the park as well as from the wings.
Eriksen started at Old Trafford on Sunday against Rayo Vallecano, where both him and other new signing Lisandro Martinez played 60 minutes each in preparation for the upcoming season.
With the departures of Paul Pogba and Juan Mata earlier on this summer, Eriksen will likely become a crucial part of Erik ten Hag's attack as he is one of the only players in the current squad who is creative focused beyond all else.
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Although it is unlikely that Eriksen will start against Brighton & Hove Albion on 7 August during the opening weekend of the Premier League season, it will be a surprise if he doesn't feature in some capacity.
Topics: Manchester United, Brentford, Christian Eriksen, Premier League, Denmark
Mudeet Arora