Christian Eriksen says he knew he would play football again just two days after suffering a cardiac arrest at last year's Euro 2020 as he starts a new chapter of his career with Brentford.
The Denmark playmaker collapsed on the pitch against Finland in June and on the way to hospital in Copenhagen he told his wife Sabrina that he would probably never play football again.
But the 29-year old was fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator and doctors gave him hope he could return to the sport.
Eriksen was unable to continue his career with Inter Milan because rules do not permit footballers fitted with the device to play in Italy but he signed for Premier League side Brentford on the final day of the January transfer window.
He spoke to club media for the first time Monday.
Eriksen, who has signed a contract until the end of the season, said he had many tests to assess how his heart was reacting to physical training but the results were positive.
The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has not played since the incident last year but has recently been training with the youth team at another of his previous clubs, Ajax.
Eriksen said the long lay-off had been frustrating and it had been difficult even to watch matches.
Manager Thomas Frank, who has hailed Eriksen as potentially Brentford's "greatest signing" said last week he hoped the player would be in action within "weeks".
The midfielder, who trained with his new team-mates for the first time Monday, said he felt "very good" but that it would take time to get match-fit.
