Christian Eriksen has all the quality required to play as a ‘regista’ for Inter, according to Denmark national team assistant coach Morten Wieghorst.
Antonio Conte sprung a surprise in yesterday’s 2-1 win over Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia by starting the midfielder in a deep-lying play-maker position, having previously stated Eriksen couldn’t play in such a role.
In an interview with Danish news outlet EkstraBladet, Wieghorst, who has been assistant to Kasper Hjulmand at Denmark since 2020, was encouraged to see the 28-year-old back on the pitch and recommended Conte persisted with the experiment.
“I think it’s something interesting,” the former Celtic defender explained.
“Eriksen has all the qualities to play that position, he can read the game and is technically very strong.
“He can use both feet and play both phases quite quickly without needing to take too much time and he showed examples of these characteristics in yesterday’s game.
“He is not a tackler, but he reads the opposition players and uses these skills to take down the opponent. That’s how he wins the ball.
Conte’s comments about Eriksen’s unsuitability to the play-maker position came after a reporter asked whether the former Tottenham midfielder could fill the role occupied by Andrea Pirlo in Conte’s Juventus side.
Wieghorst revived the comparison, saying: “There’s a future for Eriksen in that role, Pirlo played in that position for Juve and did so with enormous success, despite everyone saying he was more of an attacking player than defensive.
“Eriksen can easily do it, he has all the qualities, I think he’s showing that.
“I don’t want to judge him for a single match, but considering that this was his first full match since November in an unfamiliar position, he moved really well.”
Eriksen joined Inter last January from Spurs but things have not gone to plan for him in Milan and this season he has made just 14 appearances, very few of which have come as a starter.
The former Ajax player has failed to make any goal contributions this term and has been widely tipped to leave the club this month but finding someone prepared to take on his wages is proving difficult.