Where Christian Eriksen fits into Erik ten Hag's Manchester United
Christian Eriksen has had a very topsy-turvy last 2 years, to say the least. From winning the 2020/21 Scudetto with Inter, then collapsing on the field while playing for Denmark at Euro 2020, subsequently having been fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, returning to the Premier League with Brentford in the January transfer window of the 2021/22 season, and now finally on the verge of signing with Manchester United - it is one of the best comeback stories in the sport.
There were many doubts as to whether the Danish international will ever be able to play professional football again, but Eriksen proved everyone wrong as he took to the Premier League like a duck to water - assisting four and scoring one for Brentford in just 10 starts. He also made an emotional return to the international scene, when he came on at half-time against the Netherlands on 26th March 2022 and scored just 2 minutes into his return.
Now a free agent, Manchester United have seemingly wrapped up the signing of the former Tottenham midfielder, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Contracts are now ready for Christian Eriksen to sign with Manchester Utd, just waiting for medical and then it will be completed. 🔴🤝 #MUFC
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 5, 2022
Three year deal confirmed, Eriksen will be next United signing after Tyrell Malacia. pic.twitter.com/bnfHw1zFw4
So, in this article, I will take a look at how Eriksen will fit into Manchester United's team, what role he could play, and how prominent he could be.
Eriksen's Evolution
For this section, let's take a look at his three most recent, meaningful seasons - his 2018/19 season with Spurs, 2020/21 season with Inter, and his 2021/22 season with Brentford.
As we can see from both these visualizations, his touches have started to come deeper in midfield as seasons have gone by, and his most common passing cluster has also gotten deeper. With age, as Eriksen has started to lose his pace (plus the health issues post the Euros), he has started to rely more and more on his passing ability from deep.
This clip isn't to necessarily show that he is a defensive liability, or that being a tenacious tackler is the only way to defend, but my point here is more to highlight the fact that his defensive ability isn't good enough for him to be paired with Frenkie de Jong in a midfield pivot. The Dutch international would arrive at Old Trafford in his prime, and optimizing his elite ball progression ability is what Ten Hag will focus on. To do that, de Jong needs to be paired with another midfielder with better defensive ability.
I saw a lot of people on Twitter making hypothetical line-ups with Frenkie and Eriksen in a midfield pivot behind Bruno or Donny, and unless the intention is to commit transitional suicide, that should never happen. Both de Jong and Eriksen are #8s, and are best utilized starting deep, aiding build-up and ball progression, and joining the attack once the team has pushed up.
As evident with the above scatterplot, while Eriksen remains a very good progressor of the ball, his defensive actions simply aren't high enough for him to play in a midfield pivot with someone like Frenkie de Jong.
So Where Does Christian Eriksen Fit In?
Now that we have gone over his strengths & deficiencies, let's discuss what role Eriksen could fulfill under Erik ten Hag.
Assuming Ten Hag goes with a 4-2-3-1 with Lisandro at defensive midfield, this is what I suspect United's shape to look like on the ball. This isn't going to be static, and of course, there are going to be plenty of rotations (Shaw/Malacia inverted, Sancho out wide; Dalot overlapping + Rashford receiving in the half-space, Martial dropping deep to allow Bruno/Donny to make runs into the box).
For me, Eriksen cannot be a primary starter for Manchester United. He is a good player but does not fit well at all to play next to Frenkie de Jong (around whom Ten Hag will look to build the team around), and Bruno or Donny bring more to the team in terms of movement, goals & assists from an advanced midfield position. To me, Eriksen should be a primary rotation option to Frenkie de Jong in the league, and can be a primary starter in central midfield for the initial stages of the UEFA Europa League. He will also get starts in the Carabao Cup, and given that there will be five substitutions allowed in the Premier League from 2022/23, he should still get a healthy amount of minutes for United. There's also a chance that he gets games as a wide 10, similar to his time at Spurs, but since he hasn't played there for a number of years now, I will not speculate on that. It does, however, remain a possibility.
To summarize - Eriksen is a good addition to a squad that has lost Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, and Nemanja Matic in midfield. United have lost not only a significant number of players, but also a lot of experience. Eriksen's personality and quality will help bridge that gap that has been created in the squad, and his age plus health factor would mean that he would not be expecting to start every single game under Erik ten Hag. He will be an important squad player who raises the technical floor at United and helps Ten Hag implement his system quicker. He also brings in excellent chance creation from set-pieces to a United team that has faced a lot of criticism for not scoring enough from dead-ball situations. A 3-year contract seems a bit much to me, but as long as the wages aren't exorbitant, it should be a relatively low-risk, high-reward signing.
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