Antonio Conte hints at summer move to bring Christian Eriksen back to Tottenham after Brentford spell

Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP9 February 2022

Antonio Conte has said Christian Eriksen returning to Tottenham would "be good for him, me and the club", as he dropped a significant hint that Spurs could try to re-sign the playmaker in the summer.

Conte revealed he met Eriksen on Sunday shortly after the Dane arrived back in London to begin training with his new club Brentford.

Eriksen joined the Bees on a six-month deal on deadline day, eight months after suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch during Denmark’s Euro 2020 match against Finland.

Conte insisted that Spurs did not consider re-signing Eriksen on a free transfer in January but hinted at the intriguing possibility of an approach in future, with the 29-year-old due to be out of contract again at the end of the season when he may have proved his form and fitness with the Bees.

Eriksen spent six-and-a-half seasons with Spurs before joining Conte’s Inter Milan in January 2020, where he established himself as a key part of their historic Scudetto triumph.

Asked by Standard Sport if he had discussed re-signing Eriksen with the club in January, Conte said: "No, honestly no.

"I was surprised about the situation because in my mind, honestly, I thought Christian needed more time before coming back to play in England.

"For sure, Eriksen is part of Tottenham’s story. To come back here would be a good opportunity for him, for me and for the club.

"But now he’s signed for Brentford. Only six months, and we’ll see what happens.

"I’m the first person to be happy to see him again on the pitch because we spent a really good time at Inter Milan together. We won the league, we spent two important seasons together. I wish him all the best for the future.

"And you don’t know what will happen. It would be good for me to have him again, to work together again."

Mark D Fuller /obfcp.co.uk

Eriksen’s contract with Inter was mutually terminated in December after he was fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) device, which are banned in Italian football.

He targeted a return to the Premier League, and specifically London, but a number of potential suitors had concerns about his health.

Eriksen arrived in the capital on Sunday and Conte revealed he had been able to catch up with the midfielder and his family after a chance meeting at their hotel, where the Spurs head coach has been living in a suite since he took the job.

"I was lucky because I met him on Sunday and it was good to speak with him," Conte added. "I saw him with his family and it was good.

"It happened that I met him in the same hotel that we were both staying. We were lucky to meet each other, we didn’t prepare the meeting. It was only a coincidence to see him. But I repeat, it was great for me to see him with his family."

Eriksen trained with Brentford for the first time on Monday but he will play no part in tonight’s League game at Manchester City, with Bees boss Thomas Frank reluctant to put a timeframe on his return to action.

"We need to speak to him daily and that’ll be an ongoing process over the next one, two, three weeks," Frank said. “I would love to say it’s going to be in one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks’ time but I would like to see how he is."

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