Eriksen Returns to Football in Premier League, 7 Months After Cardiac Arrest

Christian Eriksen had played for six and a half years in the Premier League till 2020.

The Quint
Football
Updated:
<div class="paragraphs"><p>Christian Eriksen in training&nbsp;</p></div>
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Christian Eriksen in training 

Image: EURO 2020/Twitter

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Denmark footballer Christian Eriksen is back to competitive football and will return to the Premier League with Brentford.

Eriksen is making a remarkable return to football, 7 months after he collapsed due to a cardiac arrest on the field of play in the 2020 Euros in Denmark’s game against Finland.

The midfielder is back in the Premier League after leaving Tottenham Hotspur in 2020 after spending six and a half years with them. At Spurs, he was central to almost every attack during his stint with them and was very influential going forward.

Eriksen has agreed to a six-month deal with Brentford which will see him complete the season with them in the Premier League. The deal was finalised on deadline day in the winter transfer window. There is an option to extend the deal until June 2023.

Eriksen, who was playing for Inter Milan before this, left the club last month by mutual consent after being suspended by the Italian medical authority from playing in Serie A due to a rule prohibiting the use of an Implantable Cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) device he has had fitted.

The device was implanted for Eriksen after the cardiac arrest and it is not illegal for him to play with an ICD in UK and he will become the first ever to play with one in the Premier League.

Before signing for Brentford, Eriksen was training in Switzerland and stepped up his preparations for a return by training with his former side Ajax, where he began his career in 2010 before moving to Spurs in 2013.

Brentford are currently 14th on the Premier League table and Eriksen will join fellow Danish teammates Christian Norgaard and Mathias Jensen.

Recently, He also told Danish broadcaster DR he wants to play at this year's World Cup.

Eriksen said: "My goal is to play in the World Cup in Qatar. I want to play. That's been my mindset all along. It's a goal, a dream. Physically, I'm back in top shape. I want to prove I've moved on and that I can play on the national team again.”

Eriksen had also revealed he “died for five minutes” before the medics were able to revive him in Copenhagen during the Euros. The team's medical staff, as well as Denmark captain Simon Kjaer, later received the UEFA President's Award.

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Brentford's Danish manager Thomas Frank said: "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.

"We have taken an unbelievable opportunity to bring a World Class player to Brentford. He hasn't trained with a team for seven months but has done a lot of work on his own. He is fit but we will need to get him match fit and I am looking forward to seeing him work with the players and staff to get back towards his highest level."

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Published: 31 Jan 2022,01:49 PM IST

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