MY ACCOUNT
Christian Eriksen joining another club at the end of season would be “what it is” according to Brentford boss Thomas Frank, amid reports the Denmark star may re-sign with Tottenham.
Attacking midfielder Eriksen penned a short-term contract with the Bees in January, just seven months after suffering a cardiac arrest representing his country at Euro 2020.
Eriksen was available as a free agent after his Inter contract was cancelled because rules in Serie A prevent players fitted with a heart-starting device playing in the competition.
The 30-year-old has impressed under Frank, leading to rumours he may reunite with Antonio Conte – his coach at Inter – and re-join Spurs, who he departed to move to Italy in January 2020.
Eriksen will come up against his former boss when the teams meet in the Premier League this weekend, and Conte admitted in an interview with Sky Sports he would enjoy working with him again.
“For sure, to work again with Christian is a fantastic opportunity,” Conte said.
“I enjoyed the time we spent together in Inter Milan, despite the first time he didn’t play regularly with me.
“But then when I understood what I wanted about him then he played. We won together a title, the league in Italy.
“When you have this type of player, a great player, a good man, I think every manager, every coach, likes to work with them.”
Frank understands Conte’s desire to be reunited with Eriksen, though retains hope he may opt to remain with Brentford.
“Obviously he would enjoy to work with him and Christian is a fantastic player, but I know that I will answer this question from now until the end of the season and hopefully we end up signing him,” Frank told a pre-match news conference.
“But if he ends up at another club, it is what it is. I want to focus on now and trying to prepare the team and Christian for the game and hopefully we can make him flourish tomorrow and perform well and beat Tottenham.
“I think we went into this with open eyes and this is the outcome we hoped for, that he performs fantastic and that we perform well and the other hope is that he performs after the summer.”
Frank also acknowledged Eriksen is excited to face a team whom he helped reach the Champions League final in the 2018-19 season.
“I think he just literally looks forward to playing Tottenham. He has a lot of old team-mates, a lot of staff members he worked closely together with for seven years of his life,” Frank added.
“This is where he went from being a very talented footballer at Ajax to be a world-class midfielder, and one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.
“I know one thing, he is looking forward to it but he will do his best to try and beat them, of course he wants to compete.”
