Christian Eriksen is the smart transfer for Man Utd, not De Jong
Suraj Radia
- 14 Jun 2022 17:15 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United are looking to beat rivals to the signing of Christian Eriksen and have reportedly offered a contract to the Danish playmaker.
New boss Erik ten Hag is keen on signing the former Ajax midfielder however Tottenham are also interested in a move to bring Eriksen back to North London.
Eriksen is a free agent after his short-term contract at Brentford expired and the Bees are desperate to keep hold of the 30-year-old after they won seven out of the 11 games he featured in since arriving in January.
United are still in negotiations to sign Barcelona's Frenkie De Jong in a deal that could cost more than £70 million but a move for Eriksen could represent a rare bit of shrewd business from the club.
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United have often chosen marketability and reputation over chemistry and suitability with their transfer targets, leaving them with costly flops who rarely made footballing sense as signings.
The club spent a world-record £89 million on Paul Pogba after appointing Jose Mourinho in 2016 and the Frenchman left Old Trafford this summer after failing to live up to expectations.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first summer as manager saw the arrival of Harry Maguire for £80m and Aaron Wan-Bissaka for £50m, both of whom have been much-maligned during their three seasons at the club.
And last summer the club signed Cristiano Ronaldo, largely due to him being close to joining rivals Manchester City, despite the 37-year-old perhaps not suiting the team's system.
So a costly move for De Jong would be in line with United's usual tactic of going for a big-name player as a show of support for their new manager.
However, the approach for Eriksen could end up being the smarter move, bringing in an experienced, Premier League-proven international for free.
Christian Eriksen: “I have different offers and options, which we are considering, and then we make a decision”, he told Viaplay via @utdreport. 🇩🇰 #transfers
“I would love to play Champions League football again. I know how much fun it is, but it isn’t essential for me”.— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 14, 2022
The club have had previous success in similar acquisitions, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani becoming fan favourites after initially joining as free agents.
And a move for Eriksen, while perhaps not being the big-name shirt seller like De Jong, would be a sensible start to a new dawn at United.
Despite Ten Hag having not worked with Eriksen, the ex-Inter man came through the ranks at Ajax and would fit in with the new manager's philosophy.
De Jong is still believed to be the primary target but United's approach for Eriksen shows that the club are looking at smart moves at both ends of the financial scale.
