Mikkel Damsgaard was solely 18 when then-Nordsjaelland technical director Flemming Pedersen referred to as him Denmark’s largest prospect since Michael Laudrup.
It arguably wasn’t useful to place a lot strain on a participant nonetheless in his teenagers who had solely simply completed his breakthrough season with the membership.
Damsgaard himself took the pinch of salt. “I have a good relationship with him, but he sometimes says crazy things,” he later recalled. However prophecies like that set gamers up for a fall.
Saturday twelfth April 5:00pm
Kick off 5:30pm
Harshly, even by the point he was 23, it appeared Damsgaard will be the newest wonderkid to fail to stay as much as the billing. Much more harshly, it was nothing of his personal doing.
However 4 injury-hit years since he lit up Euro 2020, together with scoring towards England within the semi-final and changing into the youngest ever Dane to attain at a European Championships, Damsgaard is lastly displaying what made him the speak of his nation at such a younger age.
Matching the expertise of one among historical past’s best midfielders was and stays a protracted shot. However even competing with the Premier League’s finest appeared simply as unlikely for a lot of his time within the division since a shock transfer to Brentford in 2022.
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Thomas Frank clarified Brentford’s place on re-signing Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen this week, with the Danish worldwide out of contract in June
Becoming a member of a rising Danish contingent on the Gtech Neighborhood Stadium together with head coach Thomas Frank, captain Christian Norgaard, Damsgaard’s transfer might have by no means come about had he not already been tormented by harm issues throughout his ultimate season in Sampdoria owing to a reactive arthritis prognosis.
The Bees hoped issues would enhance however throughout 2022/23 and 2023/24 he made solely 16 league begins, producing two assists and no objectives.
“You could say I lost a little bit of my spark,” he tells Sky Sports activities. But it surely has definitely returned now. This season, he has been a revelation. Not the primary in Brentford colors, however among the many most contrasting. He sits second within the help charts behind solely Trent Alexander-Arnold.
His probability creation numbers place him among the many likes of Mo Salah, Cole Palmer and Bruno Fernandes. They’re elite numbers, and the Bees have a gem on their palms. However with out the persistence to assist the 24-year-old by means of his more durable occasions, they could by no means have occurred.
“A lot of coaches wouldn’t give you as much time as Thomas Frank has with me,” he provides. “It’s hard to say exactly what would have happened but I definitely appreciate the confidence to come back in and perform.
“He has proven a variety of religion in me and believed in me. He is given me these possibilities this season, and I’ve undoubtedly needed to work for it and present I used to be prepared, however he stored believing all over.
“There’s a lot of periods where he wanted more from me, and that’s helped me build on what I needed to do.”
This season, Damsgaard has already made 27 league begins, greater than any marketing campaign since 2019/20 with Nordsjaelland.
Getting these minutes below his belt has been one factor, however the best way he has lastly managed to shine within the Premier League has been fairly one other.
What would he have thought had he been instructed how the marketing campaign would pan out when he returned from the European Championships? “I would’ve thought it was a little bit crazy,” he says.
“I hoped I would get a lot more playing time, but going on to get 10 assists in the Premier League is a lot better than what I would have thought.”
The way in which Damsgaard performs is, considerably sarcastically, all the time going to be taxing on his physique and has stress-tested it at occasions this season.
In addition to his artistic spark, Damsgaard has the fourth-highest variety of final-third possessions received in an all-action position which fits his recreation right down to the bottom.
He was as soon as linked with a few of Europe’s largest golf equipment and should have put them on excessive alert this season together with his harm troubles seemingly behind him, however he as an alternative dedicated his future to the Bees by signing a brand new four-year deal earlier this season.
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Brentford held one other big-six opponent Chelsea to a goalless draw final weekend
“You could say there was an element of repaying their faith,” he says. “It was a pretty easy decision for me, I’m very happy here.
“I simply wished to proceed with that, and stick with this membership which looks like residence. In comparison with different golf equipment, it’s extremely good right here – we’ve excellent camaraderie, in fact there are nonetheless totally different teams and we communicate Danish collectively typically. However the ambiance is nice.”
That atmosphere has long resonated on the pitch with Brentford’s results against the traditional big six, leaving all of them with a bloody nose at one time or another. Arsenal have fared better than some rivals since losing in Brentford’s first-ever Premier League game in 2021, and have won all but one of their meetings since.
But with the Gunners having arguably bigger priorities with a Champions League quarter-final either side of Saturday’s latest game between the two sides, Damsgaard feels there may be an opportunity to strike.
“They seem to be a powerful crew clearly, however they’ve two video games both aspect of us towards Actual Madrid. Possibly they are going to have just a little little bit of concentrate on these video games, however each crew within the Premier League is aware of how onerous it’s to win.
“You have to bring your A-game to win, even if you’re Arsenal or Liverpool. If they don’t bring that, we’ll have a very good chance of winning the game. There’s never a game we go into thinking we can’t win.”
Watch Arsenal vs Brentford stay on Sky Sports activities Premier League from 5pm on Saturday; kick-off 5.30pm.
