Christian Eriksen has said that he will be forever grateful to Thomas Frank after our now Head Coach gave him another chance at football back in 2022.
A true Spurs great having been a key part of an unforgettable era in N17, the midfielder was a central part of an iconic attack alongside Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Dele.
Joining us in the summer of 2013, Christian made a total of 305 appearances for us in which he scored 69 goals and assisted at least 80 more while he also reached two cup finals (2015 League Cup and 2019 UEFA Champions League), before he departed for Internazionale in January, 2020.
Now plying his trade in Germany with VfL Wolfsburg, we recently, as part of a feature in our Official Matchday programme, caught up with Christian to chat all things Spurs - including Head Coach Thomas, who holds a special place in our former number 23's heart.
Back in December, 2021, seven months after the traumatising ordeal of his on-field cardiac arrest at the European Championships, Christian was without a Club after his contract at Inter was terminated mutually following the Italian Football Federation's ruling that he could not play in Italy having had an implanted cardioverter defibrillator fitted.
Having previously coached him for Denmark's Under-17s side, then Brentford boss Thomas reached out to Christian to offer him a chance to return to professional football - and poignantly the Premier League - with the Bees a month later - and it is for that opportunity and support that Christian will forever be thankful to our Head Coach.
"I came from a setback to being able to show what I could do as a footballer. Thomas gave me that chance and I’ll always be very thankful to him," Christian smiled as he reflected on his time under Thomas at Brentford where he played 11 times. "He knows how grateful I am for giving me that opportunity to come back and play again.
"It was a special time. Brentford are a special club and they had a great group of players there in my time.
"I am so happy to see Thomas continuing to do well at Spurs. First and foremost, Thomas is a good manager. As a person, he really is a great human being. He’s great at getting the best out of people and he’s a very good tactician."