Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen, who suffered a cardiac arrest while playing at the Euro 2020, has said he wants to make a comeback to the national team squad at the 2022 Qatar World Cup in November.
The 29-year-old has not played professional football since the incident in June. Unable to play in Italy due to being fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, the playmaker's contract with Inter Milan was terminated by mutual agreement last month.
“I want to play. That's been my mindset all along,” said Eriksen. “It's a goal, a dream.”
Eriksen spoke to Danish broadcaster DR, admitting that his selection is not guaranteed but he feels he is back in “top shape”.
“[The World Cup has] been my goal and it's still some time away, so until then I'm just going to play football and prove that I'm back at the same level.”
It’s been a while.
— Christian Eriksen (@ChrisEriksen8) January 4, 2022
I hope this video explains how I feel towards all the messages, letters, mails, flowers, thoughts and everything else I’ve got!
Thank you for all the ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0uvmvsn5D8
Eriksen, who won the Serie A title with Inter last season, has resumed training in recent weeks but is without a club. He is training alone in Denmark.
His agent told BBC that a return to England “would absolutely feel like coming home”. The attacking midfielder was a star at Tottenham Hotspur for seven years before he left for Italy in 2020.
At the Euro 2020, Eriksen had suffered a cardiac arrest during his team’s opening match against Finland. Play was halted and he had to receive life-saving treatment. His recovery was quick but his return to competitive football has been put off until his doctors give him the green signal.
