Thomas Frank: Christian Eriksen is Brentford’s ‘greatest signing’ - it’ll be ‘unbelievable’ to see him back

Thomas Frank has hailed the arrival of Christian Eriksen as the greatest signing in Brentford’s history, but says he does not yet know when fans can expect to see him on the pitch.

Eriksen signed for the Bees as a free agent on deadline day earlier this week as he closes on a remarkable return to action, having not played competitively in the eight months since his horrifying collapse at Euro 2020.

The 29-year-old will fly to the UK on Sunday and train with his new teammates for the first time at the start of next week, though when he will be ready to make his debut remains unclear.

“It’s potentially the greatest signing ever for the club,” Frank said on Thursday. “It is going to be an unbelievable day, the day Christian steps onto the pitch.

“All of you have seen him performing for years as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and what happened to him in June was crazy, a shock for all of us. So, to see him out there on the pitch soon is going to be a big day.”

“It’s more or less impossible for me to say when he will be available,” Frank added. “I’ll be much more clever on Monday when I’ve seen him, worked with him and talked with his physical coach.

“I hope a few weeks but I don’t know.”

Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest during Denmark’s group match against Finland in Copenhagen last June and needed to be resuscitated by medics on the pitch while teammates formed a protective shield.

The incident stunned those watching around the world, including countryman Frank, who coached Eriksen early in his career during his time working with the national team’s youth sides.

“[He was] a young boy with unbelievable ball talent, a natural mover,” Frank recalled. “I remember the first game I was in charge for the U17