When Erik ten Hag stamped the signature that made him the new manager of Manchester United, at the end of April, he thought he would have control of the sports entity with the most financial potential in England. It was not until May when the owners of the club, the Glazer brothers, told him that, unless they transformed the balance of payments with player sales, his budget to renew the squad would not exceed 120 million euros. Too little to catch up with City, Chelsea, Liverpool, and even Tottenham.
Forced to navigate an unexpectedly tight market, Ten Hag raised the risk level to the maximum. This Friday, United made the signing of Christian Eriksen official, who was out of contract, is 30 years old, and leads a normal life as far as the defibrillator implanted in his chest on June 12, 2021 allows, after suffering cardiac arrest in the middle of a game with the Danish national team. Doctors say that he remained clinically dead for about 10 minutes. He was saved by his teammates who, with the help of the doctors, revived him without suspecting that the footballer’s career had only suffered a temporary interruption.
“I can’t wait to start playing for United,” Eriksen said in the club’s statement on Friday. “I have seen the work of Erik ten Hag and I know the level of detail that goes into his preparation. After talking to him I got even more excited. I still have big ambitions and this is the perfect place to continue my journey.”
If the quick reaction of the Danish national team players returned Eriksen to the world of the living, his process of reintegration into professional football was the work of Ten Hag long before the two met again in Manchester.
When Inter Milan terminated his contract at the direction of the Italian medical college last summer, Eriksen was left without what professional players consider their most valuable asset: a group of teammates. The possibility of joining a locker room was provided by his old club, Ajax Amsterdam, then directed by the Dutchman Ten Hag. Ajax has not confirmed or denied this information, but sources close to the footballer indicate that he trained for months at the Toekomst facilities, alternating the academy teams with the first team. Without the generosity of his old employer, Eriksen would have had a much harder time getting in shape to hit the winter market for Christmas 2021.
He returned to play football five months ago, in the ranks of Brentford, a London neighborhood club that competes in the Premier and that offered him a link until the summer. That adventure, which he completed with the support of Thomas Frank, Brentford’s astute Danish manager, opened the doors of the great showcase for him. His move to United confirms the determination of a man who has been unyielding to the pleas of his wife, Sabrina Kvist, to step down. The threat of sudden death does not deter him in the same way that Ten Hag is emboldened by the economic precariousness that afflicts the team since it was confirmed that he would not qualify for the Champions League this season. The absence of good accessible midfielders in the European concert precipitated the operation.
Alternative to Frenkie de Jong
Once the richest club on the planet, United published an income of 558 million euros in 2021. The figure placed them in fifth place in the world ranking of the consulting firm Deloitte, below City, Madrid, Bayern and Barça . Since the level of debt has skyrocketed in the last year, the owners have preferred to avoid spending rather than invest. Bryan, Joel and Edward Glazer, owners of one of the most active real estate companies in the United States, among other companies, chose to maintain profits rather than commit their capital by reinforcing the workforce to try to win the Premier that has eluded them since 2013.
Ten Hag began by concentrating scarce resources on Frenkie de Jong, whom he had managed with great success at Ajax. He even twice called him on the phone promising him the leadership of the team and 13 million euros net per year. But according to United board sources, the Barcelona player rejected the offer, arguing that he believed in Xavi Hernández’s project. The refusal forced Ten Hag to redirect the search for him in the middle of June. Eriksen, who has 52 goals and 71 assists in 237 Premier League games, was next on the list.
“Christian will bring experience and leadership to the team,” said John Mourtough, United’s director of football, by way of an aside, in the official statement.
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