With five games of the season remaining, Brentford are in unfamiliar territory.
When they were in the Championship, the battle for automatic promotion usually went down to the final day before they would fall agonisingly short and get dragged into the play-offs. However, their 2-1 victory over Watford last weekend means, for the first time in recent history, they know what division they will be playing in next year with games to spare.
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Thomas Frank’s side are 11th in the Premier League table on 39 points — no team has been relegated with that total since Blackpool and Birmingham City went down in 2010-11. They are 14 points above the relegation zone, although 18th-placed Burnley have two games in hand, and the luxury of being safe will allow the club to plan ahead. There is one dilemma hanging over them.
Nobody predicted Christian Eriksen would recover and rediscover his best form so quickly from suffering a cardiac arrest playing for Denmark against Finland at the European Championship last year.
With rules in Italy prohibiting players having a heart device, he mutually agreed to leave Inter Milan in December. He joined Brentford on a six-month contract a month later, but did not make his debut until their 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United on February 26. Since then, Frank’s side have won all of the five games Eriksen has started.
The Denmark international has played a pivotal role in helping them avoid relegation. He set up Ivan Toney’s first goal in a crucial 2-0 victory over Burnley and provided the assist for Pontus Jansson’s winner against Watford. He scored his first goal in the top flight since December 2019 in the 4-1 win away to Chelsea — some within the club labelled it the best result in their history.
Supporters are infatuated with Eriksen and Frank says “it is no secret that I want him to continue next season”.
The problem for Brentford is he becomes a free agent in June and is attracting attention. The 30-year-old has been linked with a return to Tottenham Hotspur, where he spent six and a half years between 2013 and 2020. It would be a reunion with Antonio Conte, with whom he won the Serie A title at Inter Milan last season. Newcastle United is a potential destination, too.
Frank was asked about Eriksen’s future after Brentford’s match against Chelsea this month and said: “I am going to get this question before and after each game. I don’t think anything will be decided before the end of the season. You all understand we would like to keep him and it’s up to Christian to find out what he wants to do. We have a chance (of keeping him) — 100 per cent.”
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The lure of joining a team that is fighting for trophies and playing in European competition is understandable, but why would he want to leave Brentford? Eriksen has publicly spoken about representing Denmark at the World Cup in Qatar and he will be guaranteed regular playing time under Frank. If he moves to a club where there is more competition for places, then he runs the risk of the minutes he craves diminishing.
Some of the same clubs that are being linked with the former Ajax playmaker now did not take the risk to sign him in January. The suggestion they will be able to tempt him in the summer with more money is a disservice to the hard work Brentford have put in behind the scenes.
They may not be able to offer him the same lucrative financial package, but the real triumph is that they helped him return. Their medical department came up with the fitness programme that has enabled him to find top form. The club carried out several tests to ensure he could play football safely and have supported him throughout.
Brentford hope the midfielder will show them loyalty for helping him to restart his career by signing a new deal. He could become the figurehead for the next stage of their project as they attempt to firmly establish themselves in the top flight. Keeping Eriksen would be a signal of their intent, encourage other players to commit and could give them an edge in negotiations when they recruit talent.
The biggest factor, which is being overlooked, is Eriksen’s family. In a press conference after he joined Brentford, he said “the only thing that has changed (since his cardiac arrest) is that I love my family more than before” and the club was “the perfect mix for me as a footballer and a family man”.
Eriksen was keen on moving back to London having lived there before with his partner Sabrina and their two children. After experiencing such a traumatic incident, they wanted to be in a familiar and comfortable environment.
Frank has a great relationship with Eriksen as he coached him when he was in charge of Denmark’s Under-17s. Brentford’s head coach understands how to extract the best out of him and has tweaked the team’s tactics to utilise his strengths.
⚽️ @ChrisEriksen8 ⚽️#BrentfordFC #CHEBRE pic.twitter.com/orSMe4VONB
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) April 2, 2022
He has forged a strong bond with Brentford’s squad too. He knew Mathias Jensen, Jonas Lossl, Christian Norgaard and Mathias “Zanka” Jorgensen from international duty, but has made a conscious effort to get to know all of his team-mates. He has lunch at the training ground with different players each day, and Josh Dasilva and Rico Henry have told The Athletic how much they enjoy learning from him.
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Even if Eriksen decides to move, he will leave a significant imprint on Brentford. He spurred his team-mates onto new heights to beat the drop.
The club has absorbed the loss of key players before — including Said Benrahma, Neal Maupay and Ollie Watkins — and they would find a way to move on again. Hopefully, however, he will recognise Brentford is the best place to continue his “fairytale”.
(Top photo: Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)
