Thomas Frank hopes Brentford can help Christian Eriksen flourish against his former club Tottenham.
The Bees host Champions League-chasing Spurs at the Brentford Community Stadium on Saturday when Eriksen will hope to continue his brilliant return to the Premier League.
The 30-year-old joined the Bees in January as a free agent, having left Inter Milan following his cardiac arrest at last summer’s European Championship, and Brentford have won all five games the Denmark midfielder has started.
His next appearance is set to come against the club who he helped reach the 2019 Champions League final, and Bees boss Frank expects Eriksen to be motivated to beat his old side.
Frank said: “I think he just literally looks forward to playing Tottenham. He has a lot of old team-mates, a lot of staff members he worked closely together with for seven years of his life.
“This is where he went from being a very talented footballer at Ajax to be a world-class midfielder, and one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.
“I know one thing, he is looking forward to it but he will do his best to try and beat them, of course he wants to compete.”
Tottenham manager Antonio Conte is no stranger to Eriksen having coached him at Inter Milan.
On Thursday, Conte admitted he was surprised by how well Eriksen’s return to football has gone.
Eriksen’s six-month contract with Brentford expires in the summer and Tottenham are among the clubs to have been linked with offering him a deal.
When asked about the possibility of Eriksen reuniting with both Spurs and Conte, Frank said: “Obviously he would enjoy to work with him and Christian is a fantastic player, but I know that I will answer this question from now until the end of the season and hopefully we end up signing him.
“But if he ends up at another club, it is what it is. I want to focus on now and trying to prepare the team and Christian for the game and hopefully we can make him flourish tomorrow and perform well and beat Tottenham.
“I think we went into this with open eyes and this is the outcome we hoped for, that he performs fantastic and that we perform well and the other hope is that he performs after the summer.”
