Christian Eriksen neither trains nor plays for Inter Milan, but he is still present. The Real Madrid rival this Wednesday keeps the Danish player in his squad, Although it is not registered for the group stage of the Champions League due to the inability to play during these months. And at the official club store in the center of Milan, next to Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and near the imposing Duomo, his shirt continues to be a claim for fans and tourists who visit it. But Eriksen's future is far from clear.
The Dane suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during a match at Euro 2021, between his team and Finland. The rapid intervention of the Danish medical corps, resuscitating Eriksen with the defibrillator on the same lawn of the Parken in Copenhagen, was crucial to saving his life. Days later, he underwent surgery to install an internal defibrillator that will react immediately to a similar event. But the source of Eriksen's problem remains a mystery.
Last week, the player's agent denied that he will go for tests in Milan soon to assess a return to the pitch. Eriksen has been living in Denmark since the end of the European Championship and in the first days of last August he visited Milan and stopped by Inter's Suning Sports Center to greet his teammates. There are pending tests, still undated, to try to elucidate what was the source of the problem: if it was a virus that may have already overcome or is it a congenital defect.
On his visit to his teammates in Milan, Eriksen conveyed his firm intention to return to the pitch in four or five months. But the pending tests are vital for several reasons. The first, that Inter will not risk aligning Eriksen if he has not given a name and surname to his heart problem; and the second, that if it is not decided that the internal defibrillator that was installed can be removed, he will not be able to play in Italy. These tests, whatever happens, will be directed by the medical team of the Danish Federation, who is the one who has monitored the case from the beginning.
Eriksen's future: Italy, Denmark, Ajax …
The Italian regulation is very restrictive in this regard. To play in Italy, you must pass the so-called suitability test, which is carried out at the CONI (Italian Olympic Committee); if you carry such a defibrillator, you will not get a pass on that exam. The issue is thorny for Inter, who paid Tottenham 21 million for Eriksen, plus seven million to their agent in commissions. You don't want to rush things, but you don't want to throw that money away either. The Dane has a contract until June 2024.
His salary, of 7.5 million net per season, is being assumed for the most part by UEFA and FIFA, under the mechanism of payment of long-term injured players during the dates of selections. And everything indicates that in January, Inter and the player will have to make a decision. If the defibrillator has to stay with Eirksen's heart, he already knows that Italy will no longer be his home, and there a certain range of options opens up: return to Denmark or sign for Ajax, his former team before going to England and where they already have a player in these circumstances, the Dutchman Daley Blind.