Christian Eriksen joins Brentford seven months after cardiac arrest
In what may ultimately be the most remarkable return the sports world sees all year, midfielder Christian Eriksen is back in competitive football and in the Premier League roughly seven months after he nearly lost his life.
Per ESPN and Sky Sports, Eriksen has completed an expected move to Brentford that will keep him with the top-flight club through at least the end of the 2021-22 season. The 29-year-old, who previously spent seven years at Tottenham Hotspur, hasn't played since he suffered cardiac arrest featuring for Denmark at the UEFA European Championship last June, and Inter Milan terminated his contract by mutual consent on Dec. 17 because Serie A rules prevent footballers from competing with the type of implantable cardioverter defibrillator Eriksen had installed last year.
The Premier League has no such restrictions, and the Danish maestro has been deemed fit to return to football in England:
Brentford boss Thomas Frank coached Eriksen as part of Denmark's youth teams earlier in their careers.
"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," Frank said Monday. "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."
It's unknown when Eriksen may debut for Brentford, but he made it clear earlier this month he wants to be available for selection for the World Cup set to get underway in November.
Of course, one can only guess if he'll ever reclaim the top playmaking form he enjoyed during his best days at Tottenham, but just the fact that he's able to take the pitch again and, ideally, call time on his career on his own terms down the road is an incredible twist to his story considering what happened a little over half a year ago.
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