Thursday, March 28

Eriksen ready to play back after signing for Brentford


Giving a thumbs up to the camera, Christian Eriksen revealed his new team and planned to play again, nearly eight months after suffering cardiac arrest on the pitch at the European Championships.

“I am happy to announce that I have signed with Brentford Football Club,” Eriksen said in Monday’s social media video. “I can’t wait to start.”

It will be a remarkable return to the Premier League for Denmark’s playmaker, who has said he was essentially dead for five minutes after collapsing in the opening game of Euro 2020 against Finland.

The uplifting signing was an early announcement on the final day of the transfer deadline in the Premier League. Signing with Brentford until the end of the season, Eriksen returns to England, where he played for Tottenham until he joined Inter Milan two years ago and won the Serie A title.

Eriksen, 29, will meet Thomas Frank, the Brentford manager who coached him when he played for the Denmark under-17 team.

“We have seized an incredible opportunity to bring a world-class player to Brentford,” said Frank. “He hasn’t trained with a team for seven months, but he has worked a lot alone. He is fit but we will need him to be fit for the match and I look forward to seeing him work with the players and staff to get back to his highest level.”

Frank hopes Eriksen will provide a further boost for a team that is impressing in its first Premier League campaign, sitting eight points above the relegation zone with 15 games remaining.

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“At his best, Christian has the ability to call football games,” Frank said. “He can find the right passes and he is a goal threat. He also has very, very good set-piece shooting, both from corners and direct free kicks.

“He is a player that you can find with the ball, and he will find a solution to the problem in front of him. Christian will also bring his experience of top-level football to the club.”

Eriksen’s contract with Inter Milan was terminated by mutual agreement in December, as Italian regulations prevented him from playing with the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator fitted to him. He was recently training to get back in shape at Ajax, the Dutch club where he started his career.

Brentford said he would “respect Christian’s medical confidentiality” by not disclosing any more information beyond saying that he recently received coronavirus vaccinations that allow him to comply with the rules of entry to Britain.

Eriksen will fly to London this week but will not train immediately with Brentford.

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It was planned to be a busy day for the deadline in London.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has not played for Arsenal since December 6 following disciplinary problems and then was at the African Cup of Nations with Gabon. The striker has been linked with a move to Barcelona or Juventus.

Tottenham missed out on the signing of Adama Traore, who went to Barcelona from Wolverhampton, and Luis Díaz, who joined Liverpool from Porto. The north London club was trying to bring in two players from Juventus: winger Dejan Kulusevski and midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.

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Tottenham were also trying to offload record signing Tanguy Ndombele back to Lyon and also find clubs to sign Dele Alli, Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil on loan.

Donny van de Beek, who has struggled playing for Manchester United, could get a chance to revive his Premier League career if he joins Everton on loan.

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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports




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