Christian Eriksen insists there is nothing to stop him being as good as he was before his cardiac arrest.
Eriksen, who has joined Brentford, collapsed on the pitch during Denmark’s European Championship game against Finland last June and has not played since.
The former Tottenham midfielder was unable to continue his Inter Milan career due to rules in Italy concerning athletes fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
"I told Sabrina, 'I'll leave my boots but I'll probably change my mind in a few days if everything is OK.' Luckily everything was, after, OK"
🕤 Hear from @ChrisEriksen8 in full for the first time at 9.30pm#BrentfordFC #EriksenJoins pic.twitter.com/Y1bf0fzgog— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) February 7, 2022
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But the 29-year-old is back in the Premier League at Brentford until the end of the season and says his Bees debut is “not far off”.
“I won’t change my style of play,” Eriksen said in an interview with BBC Sport. “To get back to the (same) level I will do everything I can to get back.
“I have had the time to be disciplined for the last six months to do extras, so even now maybe I am in a better condition than before – just the football missing.
“I feel like me so don’t see a reason why I can’t get back to the same level.”
Brentford boss Thomas Frank, who coached Eriksen in Denmark’s age-group teams, has described the player’s return to full health as a “little bit of a miracle”.
Frank has not given any indication when Eriksen will make his debut, but the 109-times capped international, who began training with the Bees on Monday, expects it to be soon.
Eriksen said: “I’m not far off. It is difficult to put a date on it when it is going to happen, but hopefully in a few weeks’ time it is going to look well.
“It takes some time to get the football fitness, the condition-wise is good.
🏡 Welcome, @ChrisEriksen8#BrentfordFC #EriksenJoins pic.twitter.com/IENTsFt0bw
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) February 7, 2022
“I have done a lot of running and a lot of tests, so the condition is good. The football touch is something of course you get in games, but of course to get there is still a few more weeks.
“At the moment, when the coach sees me fit and wants me to play then I’ll be able. But at the moment we just take it day by day.”
Eriksen’s experience has raised the issue of having more defibrillators in workplaces, schools and sporting environments, and he says he has been aware of the campaign.
He said: “I have been focusing a lot on myself and my family since it happened, but I have seen all the messages and articles on all the extra defibrillators.
“It is a good thing from a bad thing that happened that people are more acknowledging and more capable of being able to save someone.
“So I think from a negative side it is turning into a positive that can hopefully save a lot of people that can be in the same situation as me.
“It is definitely something that can be focused on and I will have a focus on.”
