Thomas Frank admits Christian Eriksen will be ‘impossible’ to replace after Brentford’s 1-0 win over Real Betis in their final pre-season friendly of the summer.
Brentford was one of the options Eriksen had on the table, although he turned down the opportunity to remain at the club after joining them on a six-month contract in January.
Eriksen decided to join Manchester United instead.
Frank, who had the pleasure of managing the highly rated Danish midfielder last term, accepts that it will be impossible to replace his qualities in the side. He must now find a new system in midfield, with different players.
He said (via Ealing Times): “I’ve said many times I would have loved him to stay,” Frank said, when asked if the current squad can fill the void left by Eriksen’s departure.
“He obviously brought a lot of quality to us, we can’t replace that, that’s impossible.
“But we can hopefully replace it with something different so when a player goes out and another comes in you tweak things that create other relations, other dynamics.
“That hopefully constructs a different game where we can still create a lot of chances.
“It’s about how I can construct a team to get as close as possible to get the output the team got with Christian in it.”
Brentford will find their second season in the Premier League a lot more difficult without Eriksen. Losing Ivan Toney before deadline day would be another huge blow to Frank and his squad.
United start their Premier League campaign against Brighton next Sunday and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Eriksen in the starting line-up.
