Uncharacteristically given their struggles in recent years, Manchester United fans have plenty of reasons to be cheerful. Marcus Rashford is in scintillating form, having scored in each of United’s last six home games. Casemiro is earning widespread admiration for his scintillating midfield displays. Lisandro Martinez returned from Qatar with a World Cup winner’s medal in his luggage. Even Aaron Wan-Bissaka, initially cast aside by manager Erik ten Hag, is putting on creditable displays.
One name that you don’t hear mentioned often is Christian Eriksen. But this is not because the midfielder is underperforming. The Denmark international is having an excellent season. No, the reason Eriksen isn’t often spoken about is because he has fit in so seamlessly. It already feels like he has always been Manchester United’s creative fulcrum, slipping elegant passes through to his forwards and making the whole operation tick.
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While it is admirable that Eriksen has become part of the Old Trafford furniture, playing with the sort of cohesion it normally takes years to build up, it also does him a disservice. This is a player who joined Brentford a year ago in an effort to prove his fitness after collapsing during Euro 2020. His tenure at Inter Milan was cut short due to the fact he had a pacemaker fitted. Eriksen’s quality has quickly rendered it business as usual when he plays exceptionally well. But the fact he is playing at all remains a miracle.
This career revival was no certainty even pre-Euros. After a superb spell at Tottenham Hotspur, Eriksen moved to the San Siro with expectations high. But despite winning a Serie A title with the club, he was a fairly peripheral figure during his time in Italy. The usually-creative midfielder managed just two assists across 43 league games. To put that in perspective, he managed four in just 11 Premier League appearances for Brentford in the second half of last season.
His creative output is in evidence at Old Trafford too. Eriksen has six assists from 16 games so far this season. The Dane’s dinked free-kick set up Casemiro to volley home in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth. The Brazilian claimed the spoils but, as has happened so often this season, Eriksen was central to a successful moment for his club.
United have lacked creative depth in midfield for a while now. Paul Pogba provided moments of brilliance but they were rare and isolated. Scott McTominay and Fred are more functional than thrilling. Bruno Fernandes is an exciting attacker but found himself marked out of games by opponents aware that he was United’s main outlet. But Eriksen gives Ten Hag two incisive creative midfield talents, with Casemiro there to win the ball and load the bullets for them.
The fact that Eriksen, Casemiro and Fernandes is the default midfield three is worthy of note in itself. Most observers expected Eriksen to come in as a back-up option for Fernandes in the number ten role. Given the former Ajax man’s tenuous health situation, nobody thought he would be the first name on the teamsheet. But he has made a deeper midfield berth his own, dovetailing with rather than deputising for Bruno.
United fans have a lot to be pleased with. There have been plenty of false dawns since Ferguson retired though. This could quite easily be yet another case of the calm before the storm. But if the Red Devils’ form does recede, one struggles to see Eriksen’s personal performances going the same way. He looks too settled, too calm, too magisterial to be put off his game. Compared to Rashford, Casemiro and the rest he’s United’s quiet man. But make no mistake, there is brilliance within the silence.
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