Brentford manager Thomas Frank has quashed suggestions that his team would have been relegated last season had they not signed Christian Eriksen on a short-term deal in January.
Eriksen, after being forced to leave Inter Milan following the cardiac arrest he suffered at the European Championship last year, played a key role in helping the Bees avoid relegation back to the Championship at the first time of asking. In just 11 appearances, he scored one goal and grabbed four assists.
His performances towards the end of last season meant that interest in his signature was rife, with Manchester United, of course, winning the race. He joined United last month on a three-year contract and could make his competitive debut in this afternoon's Premier League opener against Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford.
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Brentford were determined to keep hold of Eriksen this summer but were unable to match the lucrative offer that United put to him. Concerns have since been raised about how the Bees will manage without his creativity and experience this season.
However, Frank has dismissed claims that Brentford will struggle without him. The Bees finished a respectable 13th in their first-ever Premier League campaign.
"I think that the people that say that Christian kept us in the Premier League either don't know what they are talking about or are very single minded, if I’m very harsh," said Frank, as quoted by West London Sport. "Obviously he's a top player. Obviously he helped us.
"I'm convinced, and there will be always an argument, that of course we would have stayed in the Premier League anyway if you look at our start. You need to take into consideration two things.
"One, we had a lot of injuries. The day he stepped in the building was when David (Raya) played again, Ivan (Toney) played again, Rico Henry played again, (Christian) Norgaard played again. All our key players played and we were fit, more or less, until the end of the season.
"Two, we actually consistently performed quite well throughout the season, even in the bad patch. So those are two reasons why I'm convinced that we still would have been good, just maybe not as fluid, maybe not as good looking as we did with Christian."
In a separate interview earlier this month, however, Frank admitted that he would have loved to have kept hold of the 30-year-old, who will be looking to make his mark at Old Trafford as quickly as possible.
Frank added: "I've said many times I would have loved him to stay. He obviously brought a lot of quality to us, we can't replace that, that's impossible.
"It's about how I can construct a team to get as close as possible to get the output the team got with Christian in it."
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