Inter Milan manager Antonio Conte has hailed Christian Eriksen's 'positive' recent improvement after a January move away from the San Siro failed to materialise.
The attacking midfielder has largely struggled to impose himself since moving to the Italian giants from Tottenham in January 2020, with Inter CEO Giuseppe Marotta admitting the Dane was available for transfer in December.
Eriksen was linked with a return to his former club Spurs and with a swap deal with Chelsea midfielder Jorginho but ended up staying at Milan.
But after scoring a stoppage-time free-kick against bitter rivals AC Milan in the Coppa Italia quarter-final last month, Conte stated he would stay and talked up his progress.
He told Tuttosport: 'He is starting to understand a little what we want from him, the fact he played for the second game in a row is positive and, even today, he played a very good game.
'He had a bit of an acclimatisation problem, it took him a while to understand Italian football which is more tactical and now there is more intensity than in previous years.
'He started to enter into certain situations and now he has taken a step forward for us. He is starting to understand Italian and this is very important and what we need.
'(Against Lazio on Sunday) he played a very careful game even in the defensive phase. He is a player who gives quality and finding him is one more weapon for me.'
Former Chelsea boss Conte has led Inter to first place in Serie A, one place and one point ahead of old adversaries AC Milan.
Inter face Stefano Piolo's second-placed side in a crucial title clash in Lombardy on Sunday.