Christian Eriksen will make his Premier League debut for Brentford on Saturday against Newcastle.
It will start a remarkable chapter in the Danish international's career just eight months after his harrowing collapse from cardiac arrest at the Euros in Denmark's first game of the tournament.
“[He] will be in the squad and he will get on the pitch—he will get his debut tomorrow,” Brentford manager Thomas Frank said in his pre-match press conference. “That will be amazing. It’s a big day definitely for all of us but especially Christian and his family when he walks onto that pitch, and for me personally as well. For anyone involved in football that saw what happened, it's another of these reminders that we are privileged to do what we do and be alive.
”… The key thing is that everything has been checked. All good, there's zero chance that something could happen, and him and his family is aligned that he should play football, so that's very important.”
Eriksen was fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, which left him unable to play in Serie A with Inter Milan to due Italian health regulations. After training with Ajax and Odense Boldklub, the 30-year-old midfielder signed with Brentford during the winter transfer window on a free transfer after receiving a call from Frank, his former coach in the Denmark youth system.
The former Spurs star has made his goals clear: After missing most of Denmark's storybook run to the Euro semifinals while in the hospital last summer, Eriksen said he wants to play in the 2022 World Cup.
Eriksen has already played in two friendly matches behind closed doors—and earlier this week he notched two assists against Rangers.
While at Spurs, Eriksen was named to the PFA Team of the Year in 2017-18, and he has also been named Danish Football Player of the Year four times throughout his career.
Brentford, meanwhile, could use the spark Eriksen is capable of providing. The club has not won in its last eight games in all competitions, and its last Premier League win came against Aston Villa on Jan. 2. The Bees currently sit in 14th on 24 points; however, they have played more games (26) than any team below them in the table.
