New Manchester United signing Christian Eriksen had revealed that he discussed the possibility of joining the Red Devils with their last three permanent managers before he signed for the club on a free transfer.
The 30-year-old joined the Old Trafford side from Brentford last month after running down his six months contract at Brentford. He became United’s third signing of the summer after Tyrell Malacia and Lisandro Martinez but has now revealed he has always been close to joining the club.
The first time Eriksen was linked with a move to Man United was when he was at Ajax. But the Denmark international moved to Tottenham for £11.5million in 2013 instead- the same summer United appointed David Moyes.
In 2019, it was reported that then-United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had spoken with Eriksen to try to persuade him to swap White Hart Lane for Old Trafford as his Spurs contract was coming to an end. But the playmaker’s preference was to move abroad, and he signed for Inter Milan in January 2020, having previously held discussions with Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho when they managed United.
“Even at Spurs, I spoke to every manager who’s been here at Man United to see what the situation was,” Eriksen said.
“But I was at Spurs at the time and I really couldn’t see myself playing in another English team at that time. I went abroad and went to Inter.”
When asked to confirm he had spoken with Van Gaal, Mourinho and Solskjaer, Eriksen replied: “Yeah.
“It’s been on the books, well, not on the books, but it’s been spoken about. For me, it wasn’t the (right) timing, it wasn’t there, and I was at a place at Spurs for a long time and I wanted to try something abroad and I went to Inter and ended up having a lovely time.
“But then, obviously, something happened in the summer and that changed the career path I had in mind a bit. Then, obviously, to come back to Brentford first of all and then to be here is something I didn’t think could happen a year ago.
“I’ve always trusted my football abilities. There have always been different clubs. Obviously, I was at Brentford last season. It was a bit new for me but it went well. I had a lovely time but going to Manchester after, the fanbase and the club, it’s the biggest.”
Earlier this summer Eriksen was linked with a reunion with Spurs and former manager Antonio Conte. But the Same has revealed that he was never really close to moving to the north London side.
“It was only talk,” he clarified.
“they never really came with anything so it wasn’t really a thing for me to go back to Tottenham at the time and Man United were very early on, very positive and I had good conversations.
“It was very positive from the first few phone calls already and the club felt like they wanted me, so it was on for a long time.”
