Brentford complete £16.7m deal for Sampdoria’s Damsgaard

Brentford have completed a £16.7m deal for Sampdoria midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard, with the Bees ending their search for Christian Eriksen’s replacement.

The 22-year-old midfielder has signed a contract until 2027 and becomes the club’s sixth Danish first-team player.

Brentford were looking for a new attacking midfielder after losing out on Eriksen to Manchester United this summer.

He scored twice during Denmark’s journey to the Euro 2020 semi-finals, including the defeat to England at Wembley – and has been linked with a move to the Premier League ever since.

Damsgaard ultimately stayed in Serie A but only made 11 appearances last season after suffering a problem that kept him out of 27 games, from last October until mid-April.

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank said: “Mikkel is, in my opinion, another classic Brentford signing. He is a young player with big potential to develop further. We know we can help Mikkel reach his highest level, we have the staff here that have experience in doing that and we are looking forward to working with him.

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“Mikkel is a player that has shown his promise at FC Nordsaelland and Sampdoria as well as in the European Championships last summer, when he had a fantastic tournament for Denmark.

“He has been unlucky with injuries in the past year, but we have already seen that he is an extremely skilful player, who can run with the ball and move it well. He is aware of the space around him and plays on the half turn. He also wants to play forward and can do so by either passing or dribbling.”