AS you may remember last week I talked about Ajax defender Toby Alderweireld, his footballing career and the possibility of him joining the Reds in the summer. In the final part of this double-header column I am going to focus on Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen.
Christian Dannemann Eriksen was born 14 February 1992. He made his debut for the Danish national team in March 2010, and was the youngest player of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa as well as being the Danish Football Player of the Year at that time.
Eriksen unbelievably started playing football in his hometown Middelfart before his third birthday. By 2005 he was playing for Odense Boldklub (OB), who competed in the Danish youth championships. His team lost the semi-final against Brøndby IF, but afterwards he was named “Best Technical Player” of the tournament. The following year OB won the tournament, when Eriksen scored the only goal in the final.
After some good performances for OB’s U-16 team and later, the U-19 and the Danish U-17 teams, major European football clubs including Chelsea and Barcelona began to take notice. The player had trials with Barcelona, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Milan, but finally decided to move to Ajax:
“My first step should not be too big. I knew that playing in the Netherlands would be very good for my development. Then Ajax arrived and that was a fantastic option as they had a tradition of handing opportunities to young players.”
Eriksen signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Amsterdam-based Ajax in 2008. The fee received by Odense Boldklub was estimated at €1 million.
He worked his way through the youth teams, and was promoted to the first team squad in January 2010, where he was given the number 51 shirt. Within the month, he made his first team debut in the Eredivisie on 17th January 2010 against NAC Breda. Ajax manager at the time, Martin Jol, compared him to the likes of Ajax youth products Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart and described him as a good reader of the game in the traditional “number 10” role like the two Dutch internationals, and Danish legend Michael Laudrup, who also played for Ajax.
On 25 March 2010 he scored his first goal for Ajax in a 6–0 win against opponent Go Ahead Eagles in the Dutch Cup and in April 2010, Eriksen extended his contract until 2014, stating: “I can still learn a lot here, I’m not finished yet and I hope I can mean a lot for the club.”
At the end of his first professional season at Ajax, Eriksen had played 21 competitive matches, scoring one goal, and had made his international debut for Denmark. For his second season in the first team, Eriksen was given the coveted number 8 shirt.
Eriksen’s Breakthrough season
Eriksen started the 2010–11 season well, scoring his first Ajax league goal in August during an away victory over De Graafschap. On 11th November, Eriksen scored his first goal at the Amsterdam ArenA: a 3–0 Cup victory over BV Veendam.
In December of that season, Eriksen was named Danish ‘Talent of the Year’. Several days after receiving this award, Eriksen once again proved his value to Ajax by scoring the only goal in a 0–1 away league victory over Vitesse. On 17th February 2011, Eriksen scored his first goal in a European tournament when Ajax beat Anderlecht 3–0 in the Europa League.
In March, Eriksen showed his fantastic attacking abilities by scoring a solo goal, running from the half-way line to finish it off with a strike to secure a 3–1 win over Willem II.
During the rest of the season, Eriksen became more and more important for Ajax, due to his great capabilities as attacking midfielder. After a good season in 2010/2011, during which he developed himself into an undisputed starter in the side that won the 2010–11 Eredivisie (Ajax’s first Eredivisie title in seven years), he was named Ajax´s Talent of the Year. He was also named Dutch Football Talent of the Year, the second Danish player to win the award since Jon Dahl Tomasson in 1996.
He was elected by a jury under command of Holland’s all-time greatest player, Johan Cruyff.
“He’s a player I really like with all my heart,” Cruyff praised Eriksen. “This prize is just the beginning, a stimulus to get the maximum out of his career. The talent is there, the recognition also; now it is up to the player himself. He is a typical product of the Danish school. You can compare him with Brian and Michael Laudrup. Only time will tell if Eriksen can reach the same level as them.”
International experience
Eriksen was called up for Denmark Under 17s in July 2007 and impressed in his debut for the team. In 2008, he scored 9 goals in 16 games for the U-17s. He has also played for Denmark Under 18s, Under 19s and Under 21s.
He received his first senior call-up in February 2010, making his debut in Denmark’s friendly match against Austria in March, to become Denmark’s fourth youngest full international, and the youngest debutant since Michael Laudrup.
Denmark coach Morten Olsen announced that Eriksen would be part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup squad in South Africa. He was the youngest player participating in the tournament, playing two matches, against the Netherlands and Japan.
On 4 June 2011 Eriksen scored his first national team goal against Iceland in their Euro 2012 qualifier. In doing so, he became the youngest Danish player ever to score a goal in European qualification, being 9 days younger than Michael Laudrup when he scored his first goal in 1983.
As of 10 April 2013 he has played 152 times scoring 28 goals.
Former LFC player Jan Molby gave an interview to the Liverpool Echo and gave a glowing report of Erikson:
“What I would say is that Christian needs to play regularly. Maybe that would count in Liverpool’s favour slightly, that they can offer him, you would think, regular first-team football.
“He’s a classy player. An old-fashioned number 10 in many ways. He has two great feet, he sees passes and has added goals to his game in recent weeks. He has all of the tools in his locker to be a real top class player.
“I’d love to see him at Liverpool, and he is exactly the type of player Liverpool should be looking at, but there will be some serious competition I am sure.”
Who knows, there could be another influential player that arrives next season and could become a Kop hero. Watch this space.
Follow me on Twitter @MRSSG.
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