Why did Christian Eriksen sign for Brentford? A look at his medical background after Euro collapse

By | January 31, 2022
0 Comment

Christian Eriksen has decided to play again after surviving a cardiac arrest episode six months ago at Euro 2021, and has made a return to the Premier League, signing for Brentford.

It remains to be seen when Eriksen will debut for the club or how long he needs to return to full match fitness, but he signs for the Bees 204 days after his terrifying collapse on the pitch in Copenhagen, a remarkable achievement of perseverence and life.

““I am looking forward to working with Christian again,” said Brentford boss Thomas Frank, who coachd Eriksen as a teenager with the Danish youth international side. “We have taken an unbelievable opportunity to bring a World Class player to Brentford.

“At his best, Christian has the ability to dictate games of football. He can find the right passes and is a goal threat. He also has very, very good set piece delivery, both from corners and direct free kicks. He is a player you can find with the ball, and he will come up with a solution to the problem in front of him. Christian will also bring experience of top level football to the Club. I expect him to have an impact in the dressing room and at the Training Ground.”

Frank said that while Eriksen is fit thanks to his individual training in the last few months, he needs to be worked up to match fitness, and did not give a timeline for his Brentford debut.

Why did Eriksen sign for Brentford?

Eriksen wished to make a return to European soccer, but had limited options due to his medical condition and his time off from the game.

Still, there’s no doubting Eriksen’s talent, and a six-month trial period with a Premier League club is a perfect environment to get back into the sport at a competitive level.

His time at Brentford in the short-term won’t be a cake walk, as the Bees are in a relegation battle and need Eriksen’s free-flowing style to inject life into their attack. It will be interesting to see how Thomas Frank looks to integrate the Danish international, who is best in possession on the ball creating chances, into his counter-attack tream.

What happened to Christian Eriksen?

In July during the European Championships, Danish star Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch in the 42nd minute of the team’s opening group stage match against Finland. The match was halted and Eriksen was given medical treatment.

Later, the Danish medical staff confirmed that Eriksen had suffered a cardiac arrest and was unconscious with no heartbeat for approximately four minutes. The terrifying scene was broadcast live with fans stunned and concerned for Eriksen’s safety. Eventually, when treated with a defribulator by medical staff, they were able to restart his heartbeat and revive the 30-year-old, who has since fully recovered.

In early January, Eriksen opened up about his experience during the event, posting a video on Twitter where he described having a “cramp in my calf, and then I blacked out.” Eriksen said he has no memory of the ordeal while he was unconscious, and saying that upon revival it was “like waking up from a dream.”

Is it safe for Eriksen to play again?

The midfielder officially confirmed his desire to play again, saying in early January, “My goal is to play in the World Cup in Qatar. I want to play.”

“It’s my dream to come back. I’m sure I can come back because I don’t feel any different. Physically, I’m back in top shape,” Eriksen added. “It’s up to the manager to assess my level, but my heart is not an obstacle.”

Brentford director of football Phil Giles ensured fans upon Eriksen’s signing that he would be safe to play for the Bees. “In order to respect Christian’s medical confidentiality, we won’t be going into any details,” Giles said in the official team release. “Brentford fans can rest assured that we have undertaken significant due diligence to ensure that Christian is in the best possible shape to return to competitive football.”

No detailed diagnosis for the cause of Eriksen’s cardiac event during Euro 2020 has been released, and reports since then have even suggested it’s still unclear what caused the heart stoppage. Originally, Dr. Bradley said, experts would advise athletes with ICD’s not to return to any sporting activities more strenuous than playing golf. Now, some are beginning to trust the devices more, but a risk still persists.

“Prior to about 2012 to 2015, [experts said] ‘No way, you get an ICD, you’re not playing.’ Now, there are a lot of studies that show it’s not really as dangerous to go back to activity as we originally thought.” Still, Dr. Bradley says, new research has suggested that one out of every 10 individuals fitted with an ICD due to a significant cardiac event and involved with athletics will have another event, and the question then shifts to the reliability of the device and residual liability of a failure.

MORE: MLS star ready for European football, says Pep Guardiola

In the United States there are no blanket restrictions or requirements for cardiac screening, but most athletic institutions still do their own. Dr. Bradley pointed to one notable domestic incident occurring in 1996, when Northwestern basketball player Nicholas Knapp was deemed ineligible by school medical professionals after he was fitted with an ICD. Knapp sued the school, and while he won the court case initially, it was overturned on appeal, establishing the right to deem a player ineligible for cardiac concerns.

Often, the concern in contact sports is damage to the ICD through incidental impacts that occur during the normal course of participation in the sport. These can damage the ICD without the patient knowing, causing it to possibly fail if later called into action for a cardiac event.

Why did Inter terminate Eriksen’s contract?

Eriksen collapsed on the field during Euro 2020 at Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium and received lifesaving treatment, with his heartbeat restarted by the medical staff on site. After initially recovering at the hospital, Eriksen was fitted with an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) that can bring his heart back into regular rhythm if an issue arises in the future.

According to rules established by Italy’s National Olympic Committee (CONI), Eriksen is not permitted to play in Italy while fitted with such a device. Thus, he is unable to play for Inter — or any other Italian side — while the device is surgically implanted.

MORE: Why Liverpool star might have the best right foot in football

Eriksen’s Italian club team, Inter Milan, terminated the 29-year-old’s contract by mutual consent on Dec. 17, formalizing a departure that was expected for some time and making the Dane a free agent.

“The Club and the entire Nerazzurri family embraces the player and wish him the best for his future,” the Inter statement read. “Although Inter and Christian are now parting ways, the bond shall never be broken. The good times, the goals, the victories, those Scudetto celebrations with fans outside San Siro — all this will remain forever in Nerazzurri history.”

Eriksen was on a $11 million-a-year contract with Inter that ran through the summer of 2024, but the terms of the contract termination were not revealed. In addition to his wages, the Italian side paid more than $22 million in a transfer fee to Tottenham Hotspur to acquire him January 2020.

Reports in Italy indicate that the FIFA Club Protection Program will indemnify Inter Milan $8.5 million for a maximum period of 365 days given the episode occurred while on national team duty. The club also reportedly has a private insurance policy which covers the Nerazzurri for the balance of the salary and outstanding transfer costs. 

Eriksen’s time at Inter was short but memorable since arriving from Tottenham in January of 2020. It took him some time to settle, but Eriksen leaves Italy as a Scudetto winner, and owner of a number of big moments, including the key late free-kick winner in the Milan derby.

Why Eriksen couldn’t play in Italy

The device that Eriksen has been fitted with is known as an ICD, or an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. This device is implanted under the skin near the collarbone and connected to the heart via tiny wires.

In patients with known heart problems, the device is able to recognize an irregular or stopped heartbeat, and can deliver an electric shock to restart the heart, just like an external defibrillator would do. Some newer versions of the device also have the ability to double as a pacemaker, allowing it to not only shock a stopped heart, but allow it to deliver more restrained electric currents to regulate a slowed or irregular heartbeat.

Other professional footballers have received this device in the past. Fabrice Muamba, whose heart stopped for 78 minutes while playing for Bolton, was fitted with this device after making a miraculous recovery, although he never played professionally again.

MORE: UEFA Nations League Draw puts Euro powers in same group

Former Manchester United defender and current Ajax captain Daley Blind has also been fitted with an ICD after an episode experienced in a 2019 Champions League match. He returned to senior-level play since the incident and this season, Blind has played in every Ajax match across Eredivisie and Champions League play, logging nearly 1,700 minutes already.

Differing opinions exist across Europe and the world about the dangers of continuing athletic activity while wearing an ICD.

Dr. Jason Bradley, non-invasive cardiologist with sports cardiology specialization at Lankenau Medical Center in Pennsylvania, says acceptance of the device is growing but it is still sporadic across the athletic community.

“It used to be that cardiologists would tell people blanket ‘no’ [to athletic activity] to take everyone off the hook [for liabilty reasons],” Dr. Bradley told Sporting News. “Now, we’re kind of rethinking that. But there’s still a balancing act between realistic chances of an event and the liability the doctors and medical professionals are willing to accept.”

Italy is recognized as a leader in sports cardiology, according to Dr. Bradley, and Inter Milan cited the Italian medical community in a statement in August addressing Eriksen’s future with the club and pointing to a probable move abroad.

“The player has been temporarily inhibited by the Italian medical authority from sporting activity in the current season,” the statement read. “Although the current conditions of the player don’t meet the requirements of achieving sporting fitness in Italy, the same could instead be achieved in other countries where the player could resume competitive activity.”

Where will Eriksen play next?

Eriksen has signaled that he wishes to play again, choosing not to retire as Sergio Aguero did due to a cardiac arrythmia. While it’s generally accepted that Italy has among the most stringent of regulations regarding athletics and ICD’s, any club that wishes to sign Eriksen will surely do its own cardiac screening, and what comes of that remains to be seen.

Eriksen has officially signed for Premier League side Brentford.

All the other possibilities for Eriksen were pure speculation. He could potentially explore clubs he already has a relationship with. Eriksen spent three excellent seasons at Ajax, where the aforementioned Blind already plays with an ICD. The more modest BK Odense in Denmark, Eriksen’s boyhood club, has also expressed interest if the opportunity arises though financial realities of the club probably leave that unlikely.

His former club, Tottenham, and London-based West Ham, have also come up in speculation. Other Premier League clubs such as Newcastle United and Leicester City would also make sense, given Newcastle’s desire to spend and Leicester’s severe unavailable list. English clubs have strict screening procedures he’d have to pass to prove fit, but there are no blanket rules preventing his return to the Premier League. 

“In Italy, there is a longstanding nationwide cardiac screening policy which runs across all sports participation and does not allow participation in a case of increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest during exercise,” said an FA spokesman in late October. “This has not been adopted in other countries, including the UK.”

Eriksen’s agent Martin Schoots ruled out Major League Soccer or Australia’s A-League for “family reasons,” but would not go into more detail about Eriksen’s possible landing point when asked in mid-December. “

“It’s too early to say where Christian’s future lies,” Schoots told Sky Sports. “Because of special regulations in Italy, which have already existed for decades, the only thing we know for sure is that it will not be in Italy. And it will not be in another continent either, because of family reasons. A few clubs have already contacted us some weeks ago. We have to see what the future brings. But it seems bright and that is the most important thing.”

Source