Ajax’s Christian Eriksen: I had trials at Chelsea but why go somewhere you might not play until you’re 21?

The Danish midfielder has revealed that he chose to join the Eredivisie club due to their tradition of handing opportunities to young players

Ajax midfielder Christian Eriksen does not regret his decision to join the Eredivisie club as a teenager, despite spending time on trial with Chelsea.

The Danish playmaker, who will feature for Ajax against Manchester United in the Europa League on Thursday, opted to move to the Netherlands instead of one of Europe's biggest clubs, believing that first-team opportunities would be more readily available.

"I always thought it would be better to go to Holland first, especially because of the position I play and the football I wanted to play," Eriksen told the Daily Mail.

"Ajax have a tradition of good football and play 4-3-3, which suits me. They also spend lots of money on youth players with the aim of putting them in the first team.

"Top sides in England have to get into the Champions League every year so they are not going to buy a 17-year-old and put him straight in the first team.

"They buy players who can play now. You might not get a game until you are 21. So why should you go there?"

Eriksen got a taste of English football during Jose Mourinho's time in charge of the Blues while still playing for Danish club Odense.

"I went to Chelsea twice when I was 14 and 15," he said. "I was at Danish club Odense at the time and came across with a friend to Cobham. We played against West Ham youth away and the year after we played Millwall away.

"It was a bit of a shock playing against Millwall. I knew the reputation of English football was tough but my first thoughts when we started were, 'Wow, this is different to Denmark'.

"They kicked a little more and made crazy tackles but I wasn't injured when I returned to Denmark so I guess I did ok."

Last year, Eriksen showed Chelsea what they might have missed when he starred in Denmark's narrow 2-1 defeat to England at Wembley.

"I liked playing against England because you had a 4-4-2 and there was space for me to go into between the defence and midfield," Eriksen continued.

"It was a big game for us, special. Maybe for England it wasn't. I had fun and decided to keep my own shirt as a memory of playing well rather than swapping."

Eriksen did admit, however, that he retained ambitions of joining one of Europe's elite clubs in search of Champions League success.

"You can learn so much from training with the top guys," Eriksen conceded. "You don't learn from playing against them.

"When it's time to leave Ajax, I'll try to go to a bigger team who do well in the Champions League every year and win trophies. But I'd make sure it was somewhere where I wouldn't just sit on the bench. Right now, my mind is only focused on Ajax."

At the forefront of his focus will be the two-legged tie against Manchester United, with Eriksen excited by the opportunity to impress against the English champions.

"When we were sitting watching the draw, we thought, 'Oh no, that's the team we wanted to avoid'," Eriksen admitted. "But now we're excited."

United play out a classic premier league comeback.

 David DeGea showing signs of why he was bought on a British keeper transfer record,  2 well converted penalties for Wayne Rooney, a goal for Hernandez, and a comeback from 3-0 down to draw 3 all. What more could United have wanted off a night that promised to be one of the most spectacular this season.
 
  Just as the loss to Liverpool in the F.A cup was a psychological blow this was a lift. The young Spanish keeper shrugged off his label of being error prone and shrugged of all Chelsea assaults except for a supreme finish from Juan Mata and two rather unfortunate own goals.
  Here's a fun fact. Jonny Evans has scored more times against Manchester United than for, in a red shirt.

  Chelsea opened the scoring in a half of United domination. At the 36th minute a shot from Daniel Sturridge diverted by Evans's hand found the back of the net to make the Londoners take a glimmer of hope from a half in which they were always second best.

 !0 minutes later the men in blue were celebrating again. Just 24 seconds from kick off in the second Torres pulled something from his hat just as he had surprised the Devils in the reverse fixture. A glorious ball from the Spanish striker to the lurking Juan Mata who pumped the ball into the the ceiling of the net rendering De Gea helpless.
 
 2-0 became 3-0 after a David Luiz header was diverted in a large angle by Rio Ferdinand who was getting booed by the Blue support after every touch not unlike Evra against the Reds. Chelsea were all ready to go home happy as 3 points would bring them more comfortably into the top 4. Andre Villas Boas sat and watched in joy as his side won him the biggest victory of the season. They were surely gonna go home happy. There was a slight flaw in the plan though.......nobody had told Manchester United.

 United launched attack after attack, wave after wave, and finally it paid off as Sturridge brought down Patrice Evra in the box. Rooney calmly converted it. The Chelsea boo boys seemed to have sparked an inferno as by every touch United got better. Rafael went out for Scholes. Paul Scholes displayed another masterclass range of passes, Giggs showed he still had brute strength in him, De Gea stood tall to the occasional Chelsea attack and United compressed Chelsea into a tight defensive unit with only Sturridge not behind the ball and with Rooney a 5th man in the midfield.

 Ivanovic then tripped Welbeck in the box and this time too Rooney calmly converted the spot kick. The game alive now Chelsea almost sored again as Torres made a great run only to take too many touches in the box and run into Jonny Evans. United however were not done yet. An amazing cross from old boy Giggs found Chicarito unmarked in the D with Luiz and Ivanovic unaware of the mexican and the little pea did what he does best. The comeback was complete but not the game. De Gea was pressurised now as Chelsea dominated stoppage time but kept out a whip from Mata, a strike from Raul and a hit by Gary Cahill. Jonny Evans appeared to be fouled by Luiz in Chelsea's D but Howard Webb said nothing doing.

    The game ended as they had started and with a result no team would have wanted before the break. But United deserved it not least cause out of the 6 goals scored 5 were by United's players.