Gary Neville has told Liverpool to sign Christian Eriksen in the summer transfer window to emulate Xherdan Shaqiri 's impact at Anfield.
The Manchester United legend hailed the Brentford midfielder as "out of this world" against his former club, despite losing the game 3-0 at Old Trafford earlier this month. Eriksen incredibly recovered from suffering cardiac arrest less than a year ago to star in Thomas Frank's side in the second half to the season, proving why he remains one of the best creators in world football.
With the former Tottenham Hotspur playmaker's contract expiring at the end of June, though, Neville has instructed Jurgen Klopp and co to take advantage and snap him up on a free transfer. Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, the ex-United captain claimed: "I think Eriksen will get plucked by a big club. He might show loyalty, to be fair, because of what Brentford have done for him.
"I tell you what, if you were any top-six club that were looking at a midfield three and you wanted a player to go in there and play 30 games for you in a squad-type [situation], you'd [take him]. He could play for Manchester City, he could play for Liverpool, he could play for any of the top six.
"I'm not saying starting every week, but he could come on. Look at what Shaqiri was doing at Liverpool for two or three years there. If Liverpool are looking for a midfield player to come on for, say, Thiago [Alcantara] – who gets injured a little bit – why would you not look at Eriksen?
"Why would you not look to him to come in for two seasons and do a job for you doing that? He's brilliant. He's a brilliant pro, he's a great player, his quality on the ball is unbelievable. To be fair, Brentford played out here [at Old Trafford], it was one of the games United won, but some of Eriksen's passing in that game was out of this world at Old Trafford.
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"I just thought of it then, but Liverpool do need midfield players, they do need people with quality to feed the strikers and to be fair, why wouldn't you [sign Eriksen]? They did that with Shaqiri."
Anfield icon Jamie Carragher would prefer to see Eriksen stay with the Bees, however, adding: "I like the fact he's there. I know he could go to a bigger club but it's like he is Brentford, he's almost become Brentford alongside the manager. I'd like him to stay."
The Denmark international, aiming to feature at the World Cup this year, recently spoke to BBC Sport about his future and admitted: "I don't know what the future holds. It will be a decision from a sporting perspective but also be a family perspective going into the decision of where we're going to go."
Asked if Brentford are in the conversation, Eriksen affirmed: "They are, they definitely are. I haven't made up my mind 100% of where I'm going. I have an idea, but what's going to happen I don't know. But Brentford are definitely in the category of one of the clubs."
