BEES boss Thomas Frank says the humble personality of Christian Eriksen meant he did not need to “seduce” the Dane in order to convince him to join the club.
The addition of the former Tottenham playmaker has made news across the globe given it was only seven months ago he collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch during Denmark’s Euro 2020 group fixture with Finland.
After being fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, a type of pacemaker, Eriksen was unable to continue his career in Italy with Inter Milan and completed a surprise Premier League return on January 31.
Frank, who coached Eriksen in Denmark’s age groups, said: “Besides being a top footballer and a world superstar, one of the things with Christian is that he is a very humble person and very down to earth.
“You can’t feel a sense that he is actually a superstar and that is a big quality in any human being that manages to behave like that.
“I think because of the circumstances and what happened, naturally some of the bigger clubs maybe weren’t that interested to take that risk or chance in the first sense. I think Christian was aware of that.
“If some of them had really called and told him ‘we want to play you’ then maybe he would have considered that more, maybe? I don’t know but I also think with this crazy experience he wants to do something he knows.
“Premier League, London, a club where he knows some of his team-mates already, has a relationship or Danish connection to me, so I think that definitely helped in his choice.
“I didn’t feel that I have to persuade him or seduce him like I normally do with other players. It was more explaining how our environment is and I thought naturally he would like it.”
According to Frank, Bees leaders Pontus Jansson, Christian Norgaard and Ivan Toney were “delighted, happy and pleased” about the club’s deadline-day signing, who will train with his new team-mates for the first time on Monday.
Forward Toney made headlines days before Eriksen completed his move after a video of him saying “f*** Brentford” emerged on social media. He later apologised.
“Definitely it is a thing Ivan needs to learn from and I am sure he will,” Frank insisted.
“Situations like that he needs to cut out to maximise his potential.”
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