Christian Eriksen made Manchester United fans forgot about €85 million Frenkie De Jong after recent performances

Christian Eriksen made Manchester United fans forgot about €85 million Frenkie De Jong after recent performances.

The more you observe Eriksen, the more clear it becomes why three other United managers attempted to buy him. Eriksen didn’t cost Man United a money.

Christian Eriksen was contacted by Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to determine his interest in joining Manchester United, and they may have all envied Erik ten Hag, the United manager who has the honor of working with the Danish aesthete.

On Valentine’s Day, Eriksen will turn 31 and United fans are already in love. Since Michael Carrick’s final successful season six years ago, they have not had a deep-lying midfielder blessed with such vision, so it can only be a matter of time before the Stretford End sings Eriksen’s praises.

At Leicester, he served as the focal point of United’s eight-pass, 10-second routine in their own third, and Eriksen is already crucial to the identity that Ten Hag is gradually developing.

By starting each of their six games this season, Eriksen has rapidly refuted the notion that he would essentially replace Juan Mata, who was only given a supporting role during his final three seasons at Old Trafford.

Bruno Fernandes is no longer the only one who must cross the lines. Fernandes and Eriksen, playmakers at the base and apex of midfield who deftly infiltrated Arsenal’s defense repeatedly, have been easily accommodated by Ten Hag in the same team.

Eriksen has now relieved Fernandes of some of the playmaking duties that were previously too much for her.

For United’s first two goals against Arsenal, Eriksen used probing, vertical passes to find Fernandes, and Fernandes then found Eriksen to set up Marcus Rashford.

For the first time since the “Invincibles” 18 years ago, a serious Arsenal team visited United, although the Gunners’ defense consists of loose cannons. Eriksen and Fernandes were able to eliminate Granit Xhaka and Albert Sambi Lokonga because they served as a weak point in a breakable defense.

Eriksen’s tracking of fellow playmaker Martin Odegaard off the ball just before he pounced on it for the second goal was equally remarkable as his one-touch delivery.

Odegaard failed to replicate that intensity when United regained possession and by the time he realised the ball was rolling towards Eriksen, he was off the pace. Ten seconds later, Arsenal were 2-1 down.

The star-struck would have chosen Frenkie de Jong if Eriksen and De Jong had been available from the start. United’s recent performance is concerning, and the single negative aspect of their summer transfer window was the way they pursued De Jong for so long.