(Football news) Brentford's are set to sign Danish midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard for £16.7m which has been accepted by Sampdoria as the Bees close in on their replacement for Christian Eriksen. The Bees are now discussing personal terms and they hope that the 22-year-old midfielder will undergo a medical in the coming days. He came into the limelight when he scored twice during Denmark's journey to the Euro 2020 semi-finals, he then scored in the semi finals in their defeat to England at Wembley and has been linked with a move to the Premier League since then. The west Londoners club made their initial approach for Damsgaard a week ahead of their crucial season opener against Leicester City next Sunday. 

Damsgaard caught the attention of other Premier League clubs but Brentford jumped ahead of the queue as Sampdoria accepted their bid. Mikkel Damsgaard's links to Christian Eriksen go way beyond the midfielder just filling in for him at last summer's Euro 2020 campaign. The new Brentford player even studied Eriksen's game during his younger years as he was somewhat of an inspiration to him. Eriksen was crucial to Brentford's survival in the Premier League last season as the team picked up seven wins in the 10 games. The Bees' goal ratio doubled in that time and Ivan Toney also got more chances to score goals. Eriksen’s another quality was that he brought a lot of joy from set-pieces, creating 17 chances from dead-ball situations last season for the Bees and Damsgaard can potentially bring all of his compatriot's skills with him. 

England fans will remember him scoring a wonderful free-kick in the Euro 2020 semi-finals at Wembley. Damsgaard's season since last summer's Euros has not gone to plan with a mysterious illness, with his agent claiming it was arthritis. His class and form got him a move to Serie A with Sampdoria in 2020, where he had a solid start in Italy making 35 appearances in the league. However, due to injury, last season he played just 11 times in the Serie A as.Sampdoria finished 15th, helping them survive relegation by a margin of just six points. Brentford finished 13th in the Premier League last season which was 11 points above the drop zone. It would be a step up for Damsgaard to move to England with Brentford.

He has already starred for Denmark at a major tournament before and will be looking to do the same at the Qatar World Cup later this year. Denmark is in a tough group with France, Australia and Tunisia. This move suits him as playing in the Premier League would no doubt prepare him for competing against the world’s best in November. Damsgaard is still just 22 years of age and a move to Brentford would suit him as he will be joining fellow Danes in the likes of Christian Nørgaard, Mathias Jensen, Kristoffer Ajer, Mads Bech Sørensen, Mads Roerslev and Luka Racic. He would also be under the guidance of fellow countryman Thomas Frank so it should not take long for him to settle at Brentford.

"I can say that I'm inspired by him," Damsgaard said about Eriksen last season. "Eriksen is one of the players I have looked to emulate the most. I admired him a lot when I was younger and since then, I've always played as a No 10. I took a lot of inspiration from him. I studied many details of his game and how he finds spaces. I've tried to include him in my game when I was little."

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