Arsène Wenger targets Ajax's Danish youngster Christian Eriksen
• Arsenal earmark player whose contract runs out in 2011
• Comparisons made to Sneijder and Van der Vaart
David Hytner guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 March 2010 22.00 GMT
Arsène Wenger has identified the 18-year-old Ajax attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen as an Arsenal star of the future, although the manager may have to bide his time before he can conclude a deal for the Dane.
Wenger has received glowing reports on the player, who made his debut for Denmark as a substitute in the 2-1 friendly defeat by Austria two weeks ago, not least from Dennis Bergkamp, the former Arsenal striker who is a youth coach at Ajax.
Wenger's attention may have been encouraged by Eriksen's contractual situation: he is on a low-paid youth-team deal which expires next year. The Frenchman may also have considered Ajax's worrying financial position: the Amsterdam club has incurred heavy losses and will have to raise funds in the transfer market this summer. Eriksen, though, appears set to sign a new, more lucrative longer-term contract and says he remains happy at Ajax.
Under Martin Jol, the former Spurs manager who took over at Ajax last summer, the teenager has been playing first-team football, although his recent appearances have been on the left flank, rather than in his preferred No10 playmaker's role.
Eriksen is small but he has good vision, dribbling skills and an incisive final pass. Jol has likened him to the Dutch internationals Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart. "I have to be very wrong if this player will not become a good, a very good or a top player," Jol has said.
Several other leading clubs have shown an interest in Eriksen, including Chelsea, whose sporting director Frank Arnesen, as an ex-Ajax and Denmark player, knows all about him.
There is debate in Denmark as to whether Morten Olsen, the national team manager, ought to name Eriksen in his squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa.
