Christian Eriksen reveals he agreed to join Man Utd on free transfer at FOURTH time of asking over Tottenham loyalty
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN says he agreed to join Manchester United at their FOURTH time of asking.
The Danish midfielder revealed that Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Solskjaer all tried to sign him during his time at Tottenham from 2013-2020.
But he wanted to stay loyal to Spurs before taking the chance to play abroad at Inter Milan.
Eriksen, 30, said: “Yeah, even at Spurs, I’ve spoken to every manager who’s been here at Man Utd to see what the situation was.
“But I was at Spurs and I really couldn’t see myself playing in another English team at that time, it wasn’t the right timing.
“I went abroad and went to Inter. I was at Spurs for a long time and I wanted to try something abroad and I went to Inter and ended up having a lovely time.”
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Then things changed. After suffering a cardiac arrest at last year’s Euros while playing for Denmark he had an implanted cardioverter defibrillator.
But under Serie A rules that prevented him from returning to play for the side he won the title at.
Therefore he made the move to Brentford and now he’s at Old Trafford.
Eriksen said: “Obviously something happened in the summer and that changed a bit the career path I had in mind.
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And then to come back to Brentford first of all and then to be here [Man Utd] is something I didn’t think could happen a year ago.”
He scored in a behind closed doors friendly win over Wrexham at Carrington last week and came on in the second-half of a 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid.
Then he had his first game at Old Trafford in United colours in the 1-1 draw against Rayo Vallecano.
Indeed on entering the ground he had to be sure of which way to go this time after his many visits as part of a visiting side.
He said: “You walk right instead of left when you go into the stadium and obviously wearing this shirt is different compared to always playing against.
“But it was a very good feeling. It was a bit weird but it was good, finally.
“It’s a historical and a special club to be at and the vibe going to Norway [where they played Atletico], the fanbase over there was incredible.
“I never thought it was going to happen. So to be playing in a home shirt here at Old Trafford is special.”
While there were rumours of a return to Spurs in the summer nothing materialised and he said it was United who showed the most interest in signing him.
He said: “It was only talk, they never really came with anything so it wasn’t really a thing for me to go back to Tottenham and Man Utd were positive.
“It was very positive from the first few phone calls and the club felt like they wanted me, so it was on for a long time.”
The appointment of former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag also influenced his decision to join United with Eriksen an ex-Ajax player.
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Eriksen said: “Yeah, it definitely helped. How he sees football, how he wants to play football, it suits my style of play and how I developed as a player at Ajax many years ago. It suits me well.
“Before I came, I spoke to him about how he sees me as a player.”
The Denmark star may have to battle for a place in the starting XI with Bruno Fernandes.
Eriksen said: “Obviously, he puts the team out and picks who’s going to start and then from there on you adapt to whoever you’re playing with. I can’t see any problem playing with Bruno.
“I’ll be happy wherever, I’ve always been like that. I try to adapt to the position I’m playing in.
“Always from the outside if you play as a No.10 you have to stay in the middle. It’s not like that anymore, luckily.
Man Utd begin their Premier League season on Sunday versus Brighton and they have set their sights on getting as close to Liverpool and Man City as they can.
Eriksen stated: “The aim will be to get as close as possible to them. They’ve proven in the last few years how much better they were than the rest really.”