Christian Eriksen has been told he must weigh up the added demands of playing for Manchester United against his mental and physical health as he considers his next move.
The 30-year-old has several suitors this summer, including former club Tottenham and Brentford, with whom he spent part of last season after returning to football less than a year after suffering a cardiac arrest. But it is an offer to join Erik ten Hag’s United revolution that is arguably the most intriguing. And former Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore has warned the Dane to think hard about whether he needs the added pressures of playing for a club of that size.
Mirror Sport columnist Collymore said: “Top-quality players want to play at top-quality clubs and the juxtaposition between United and Brentford couldn’t be bigger. You couldn’t get a smaller club in the Premier League than Brentford and you couldn’t get a bigger club than United despite their travails.
“So there are a couple of factors to consider, but mostly, it has to be about his physical state and whether or not he has an absolute clean bill of health. Because we’re talking about the heart here, and it’s not just the heart beating on a football pitch, it’s the heart beating playing for United, the expectation, the travel, the supporters, 75,000 on your back if you’re not playing well, front and back pages of the news day in, day out.
“As opposed to Brentford where, yes, he’s a big fish in a small pond, but how many times, for example, are they the leader piece in newspaper columns or TV and radio bulletins? So for him to take a step back at Brentford and go, ‘This is a place I can get my physical state and mental state in tune with with Premier League football without the additional stress being at United brings’, is a good thing.
“He’ll have to ask what his body can take and what his head can take after everything he has been through, and remember, these questions are the reason United, City, Liverpool, Tottenham and all those other big clubs didn’t take him when he first came back. You only get the chance to play for United once in your career, so I get the dilemma, but if I’m in his position I’m thinking, ‘Is the grass greener?’
“We know he’d be a good fit for United but what I know from my time at Liverpool is that the pressure of playing for those two clubs puts playing even for other big clubs in the shade. So if he did go to United, the club and supporters would have to make sure he is not the subjected to all the other stuff that has been thrown at United players over the past three years.
“Look at Harry Maguire, he’s an unthreatening guy and he has had pelters. And if Eriksen had five or six bad games, does he suddenly have to deal with that and what strain would it put on his heart, his mind and his body? If he does want to join a bigger club than Brentford, perhaps he’d be better served looking at a Villa, Wolves or West Ham.”
