Former Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen has broken his silence on an issue his ex-teammates are facing at Old Trafford.
Christian Eriksen spent three years at Manchester United after being signed for free in the summer of 2022 by Erik ten Hag.
The midfielder formed a brilliant partnership with Casemiro in his debut season, which saw the Reds finish third in the Premier League and win the Carabao Cup.
But in the following two campaigns, Eriksen had a less prominent role in the team and it was eventually decided that he would not be offered a new contract in the summer.
After his terms at Old Trafford expired, the Danish midfielder eventually joined Bundesliga side Wolfsburg earlier this month and he made his debut in a 1-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund on the weekend.
Eriksen breaks silence on issue facing United players
Eriksen has been around European football for a long time but his experiences with United would have been different to any of his other clubs.
The microscope the club is put under in the media is intense and one thing everyone seems to notice is the amount of ex-United players regularly criticising the team. Gary Neville and Roy Keane are among those on your television screens every week.
Eriksen was asked whether the opinion of ex-players has an impact in the dressing room and he explained how ‘it doesn’t help’ the players, although he also admitted that players need to try and focus less on what people have to say.
“You see how big the club is, how much people want to be involved with the club, even on the media attention. I think even now we speak about United here. It’s just the power of the club,” Eriksen told ESPN.
“Obviously the more opinionated, the more feelings towards the club are negative, the tougher it is, because the fans follow their heroes on the TV and it doesn’t help the players at the club.
“At the same time at United, as a footballer, there’s always someone who has an opinion on one or the other, but you’re just playing football. You try to focus on that bit, and I think United were good at that. The focus was on the game itself and not so much what people say.”
Ex-United players can be fans as well as critics
The impact of ex-players has been a talking point in recent months. Ruben Amorim was asked about it on several occasions and fans have also noticed how often ex-players are talking about the club.
Criticism is always going to come your way when you are performing poorly but it clearly doesn’t help when it is coming from those who used to play in the same shirt.
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Rio Ferdinand is one of the few ex-players who regularly attempt to rally behind the team. He is just being a fan, rather than a critic. Bruno Fernandes has previously explained how that is appreciated by the squad.
There is enough criticism coming United’s way no matter what is going on. It would be nice to see a little more bias – or even just constructive criticism – coming out from more of these former players.
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