Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen has joined Premier League club Brentford, seven months after he suffered a heart attack during a European Championship match.
Eriksen, who collapsed during the game against Finland in Copenhagen and was given life-saving CPR treatment, has signed for Brentford as a free agent for the rest of the season.
"I'm happy to announce I've signed for Brentford and can't wait to get started," Eriksen said in a video post.
The former Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan player is now fitted with a special heart-starting device known as an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD).
Eriksen, 29, has not played a competitive match since his collapse, although he has been training with his former club Ajax Amsterdam to build up his fitness.
Inter Milan terminated his contract in December because the ICD device is not permitted in Serie A.
Eriksen played 26 games for Inter, as they won the Italian top-flight title in 2021 for the first time in 11 years.
His move to Brentford re-unites him with Thomas Frank, who Eriksen played under when the Brentford manager supervised Denmark's U-17s.
"I am looking forward to working with Christian again. It has been a while since I last coached him and a lot has happened since then," Frank said in a statement.
"We have taken an unbelievable opportunity to bring a world class player to Brentford. He hasn't trained with a team for seven months but has done a lot of work on his own.
"He is fit but we will need to get him match fit and I am looking forward to seeing him work with the players and staff to get back towards his highest level."
Eriksen, capped 109 times by Denmark, was given the green light by doctors last month to resume his playing career and is aiming to be available for the World Cup.
"Brentford fans can rest assured that we have undertaken significant due diligence to ensure that Christian is in the best possible shape to return to competitive football," Frank said.
"Now Christian has made the decision to sign for Brentford, all parties want to focus fully on football."
Brentford have enjoyed a positive first season in the Premier League and are 14th in the table, although they have lost their last four league games and are in danger of being sucked into the relegation battle.
Reuters.
