Antonio Conte admits he has been ‘really surprised’ by how well Christian Eriksen has re-adapted to football following his cardiac arrest.
The Tottenham boss coached Eriksen at Inter Milan before his harrowing collapse during Euro 2020.
Spurs passed up the opportunity to re-sign the midfielder, who spent seven years in north London, with Conte this week praising Brentford for snapping him up in January.
Ahead of the two sides’ meeting on Saturday, Eriksen has won all five games he has started for the Bees.
‘I'm really surprised but I'm not the only person surprised to see him playing in this way,’ the Tottenham manager said.
‘I don't want to remember what happened to him because it makes me very sad. But to see him now playing at this level is incredible. It's amazing.’
Conte was asked if he regretted not signing Eriksen. ‘Honestly, no-one knew the possibility of Christian coming back to football. It was a surprise for everybody. I think in this respect, Brentford was very good to understand the situation and to go into the situation, and to sign Christian.’
It has paid off for Thomas Frank’s side, who have climbed away from danger in recent weeks.
Eriksen has been pivotal in their upturn and Conte said: ‘It will be a great joy to see him on the pitch, playing and doing what he likes to do.’
The Spurs boss added: ‘I'm very happy for him. For sure, he had always great joy in playing football. But if before he was enjoying it 100 per cent, now it's 200 per cent.
‘Because to go from a situation where you can't play football for the rest of your life, to playing football again, I think that makes you happy and makes you enjoy this sport, and your passion, much more.’
The 30-year-old played 60 times under Conte at Inter Milan after adapting to the coach’s 3-5-2 system. Conte now sees that hard work paying dividends at Brentford.
‘I think he needed a bit of time to understand my idea of football. But when he did this, he became a really important player for us,’ the Italian said.
‘I see at Brentford they are playing sometimes 3-5-2 or 3-4-3. And in 3-5-2, he is doing the same things he did with Inter by being their playmaker… I don't remember once that he complained when he was on the bench. A top player, a top person in every moment.’