Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen claims that he is happy at the club, despite his lack of game time this season.
The Dane moved to Old Trafford as a free agent in the summer of 2022 and was a regular in United’s midfield last year, playing 44 times in all competitions. However, this season has been an entirely different story.
The midfielder has only played 24 time, frequently relegated to the bench. Whilst Eriksen has started the last two games due to injury to Scott McTominay and Casemiro having to fill in at centre back, it is not a vote of confidence from Erik ten Hag.
The extent of the Dane’s lack of playing time can be seen in the fact from the 14th of January until the 13th of April he only made it off the bench once in the Premier League, playing 37 minutes in a 1-2 home defeat to Fulham in February.
It had been reported that as a result, Eriksen was naturally unhappy with his playing time and wanted out of the club. However, Ten Hag soon quashed such rumours, suggesting it was just “supporter talk”.
In a later interview, the Dutchman went on to explain that his decrease in minutes were down to the spectacular rise to prominence of Kobbie Mainoo in the middle of the park.
The Dane has been linked to moves to Turkey and his former side, Ajax.
However, this may not be the plans of the 32 year old. Whilst admitting his future is far from settled he outlined his happiness to be at club like Manchester United in a recent interview with ViaPlay (via Tipsbladet).
When asked about his future at the club beyond the summer he claimed, “I do not know. I still have a year left on the United contract, so for now, I’m still a United player. So what will happen this summer, I don’t know.”
“But I am incredibly happy to be here. It’s a great club and I feel good, so we’ll see what happens. But as I said, I have one year left.”
Interestingly, Eriksen may be happy to play the role of bit part player at the club or he may be hoping that with INEOS’ intention to implement a more possession based style, he will have more opportunities next season to show his worth as he is poorly equipped to deal with the transition football Ten Hag has demanded from his side this year.
Furthermore, with the likes of Casemiro and Sofyan Amrabat already seemingly having one foot out the door of the club, the Dane may figure there will be more opportunities in midfield for him next campaign.
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