Christian Eriksen has explained that Tottenham refused to make a concrete move for the Dane this summer despite fleeting interest, but that Manchester United had been keen on the midfielder for several seasons before pouncing on the free agent.
Eriksen has enjoyed a fairytale return to the Premier League after suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch during Euro 2020, returning with Brentford in January and helping to keep the London side in the top flight as he returned to some of his best football.
Out of contract in the summer, it looked as though a return to Tottenham and a second linkup with Antonio Conte (who signed the Dane at Inter Milan) was on the cards.
However, Eriksen explained that Tottenham never firmed up their interest, while the Red Devils were quick to formalise theirs, and ended up landing the midfielder.
“(Returning to Tottenham) was only talk, they never really came with anything so it wasn’t really a thing for me to go back to Tottenham at the time and Man United were very early on, very positive and I had good conversations”, he explained.
“It was very positive from the first few phone calls already and the club felt like they wanted me, so it was on for a long time.”
🤏 So close to an opener at Old Trafford, courtesy of @ChrisEriksen8! #MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 31, 2022
“Even when I was at Spurs, I’ve spoken to every manager who’s been here at Man United to see what the situation was,” said Eriksen.
“So, it’s been on the books, well, not on the books but it’s been spoken about. For me, it wasn’t the right timing”.
Eriksen was Manchester United’s third signing of the summer, following Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia to Old Trafford. The Red Devils remain hopeful of landing more, with a right-back, a central midfielder and a striker all on the wishlist before the window closes in one month’s time.
