Christian Eriksen

Christian Dannemann Eriksen (born 14 February 1992) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United and the Denmark national team.

He is renowned for his vision, technique, passing, and free kick ability.

His form throughout the campaign also earned him the Dutch Football Talent of the Year award which saw him become only the second Danish player to win the award since Jon Dahl Tomasson in 1996.

Johan Cruyff, whose panel selected Eriksen for the award, described Eriksen as a typical product of the Danish school and added to previous comparisons between him and Brian and Michael Laudrup.

Eriksen's father was also one of the coaches at the time and in 2004 they helped the youth side finish unbeaten in the local youth championship for the third time in a period of four years.

The following year, he joined Odense Boldklub who competed in the Danish youth championships and within a year had helped the club to an age-group title.

It was at OB that Eriksen first began showing signs of his technical ability, with his dribbling and free-kick techniques lauded by then-coach, Tonny Hermansen.

His form at youth level attracted the attention of a number of major European clubs, including the likes of Chelsea and Barcelona.

Eriksen ultimately underwent trials with both clubs as well as Real Madrid, Manchester United and Milan, but finally decided to move to Ajax, stating, "My first step should not be too big. I knew that playing in the Netherlands would be very good for my development. Then Ajax arrived and that was a fantastic option."

On 17 October 2008, Eriksen signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Amsterdam-based club, Ajax.

The transfer fee received by OB was estimated at €1 million (£847,199) while Middelfart also received a sum of €35 000 which they later used to construct a football pitch.

On 6 May, he played in the second match of the final of the 2009–10 Dutch Cup as Ajax beat Feyenoord 4–1, prevailing 6–1 on aggregate.

At the end of his first professional season with the club, Eriksen had played 21 competitive matches, scoring one goal, and had made his international debut for Denmark.

Eriksen's form throughout the campaign earned praise from manager Martin Jol who compared him to former youth products Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart as well as Danish legend, Michael Laudrup for his reading of the game in the traditional number 10 role.

Eriksen began his senior club career at age 18 in 2010, playing for Ajax, where he won three Eredivisie titles and the KNVB Cup.

Eriksen made his senior international debut for Denmark in 2010 at age 18, and has since earned over 120 caps, including appearing in five major tournaments; he was also the youngest player at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Eriksen is his country's fifth highest all-time goalscorer, and was named Danish Football Player of the Year a record five times.

Born in Middelfart, Denmark, Eriksen followed in the footsteps of his father Thomas when he started playing football in the academy of local side, Middelfart G&BK.

He worked his way through the youth teams at Ajax and was promoted to the first team squad in January 2010, where he was given the number 51 shirt.

Later that month, he made his first team debut in a 1–1 Eredivisie with NAC Breda.

He scored his first goal for Ajax on 25 March in a 6–0 win over Go Ahead Eagles in the Dutch Cup and extended his contract with the club the following month.

Eriksen took the number eight jersey ahead of the following campaign and began the 2010–11 season well, scoring his first Ajax league goal on 29 August 2010 in an away victory over De Graafschap.

Over the course of the next few months, he scored his first home goal at the Amsterdam Arena, in a 3–0 Cup victory over BV Veendam, and his first European goal, in a 3–0 UEFA Europa League win over Anderlecht.

In between the milestone goals, Eriksen was also named Danish Talent of the Year.

His growing capabilities as the team's playmaker saw him become an undisputed starter in the side and he helped Ajax to their first Eredivisie title in seven years.

At the end of the season he was named Ajax's Talent of the Year.

On 18 October 2011, Eriksen scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League when Ajax beat Dinamo Zagreb 2–0 in the group stage.

In the return fixture the following month, he provided assists to teammates Gregory van der Wiel and Siem de Jong as Ajax recorded a 4–0 victory.

Five days later he was named Danish Football Player of the Year in recognition of his role in helping Ajax to the league title the season before and in Denmark's successful UEFA Euro 2012 qualification campaign.

Eriksen continued to impress for Ajax and his strong contribution, both in terms of goal and assist returns, helped the club to a second consecutive league title.

Eriksen and Ajax repeated the feat in the 2012–13 season following which he opted not to renew his contract with the club.

With only one year remaining on his current contract, Eriksen was permitted to search for a new club and he agreed terms with Tottenham Hotspur in England.

Eriksen departed Ajax having made 162 appearances across all competitions and scored 32 goals.

Along with his league success, he had also featured in three consecutive editions of the Johan Cruyff Shield, which Ajax won once.

In 2013, Eriksen signed for Tottenham Hotspur in a transfer worth £11 million (€12.45 million), where he was twice named the club's Player of the Year, was voted into the 2017–18 PFA Team of the Year, and later also reached the 2019 UEFA Champions League final.

On 30 August 2013, Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur announced that they had completed the transfer of Eriksen from Ajax in a deal believed to be worth £11 million (€12.45 million).

Eriksen joined the club on the same day as Erik Lamela, who joined from Roma, and Vlad Chiricheș, who joined from Steaua București, and took the club's total spending for the 2013 summer transfer window to £109.5 million.

In 2020, Eriksen joined Inter Milan in a transfer worth €19.7 million (£16.9 million), and won a Serie A title.

During a UEFA Euro 2020 match on 12 June 2021, Eriksen collapsed on the pitch after suffering a cardiac arrest; he was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was later fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.

He returned to football eight months later with a move to Premier League club Brentford, before transferring to Manchester United the following season.