Christian Eriksen initially rejected Wrexham’s approach last summer because the Denmark great did not want to appear in the club’s television documentary series, according to club chief executive Michael Williamson.
Wrexham contacted the 33-year-old midfielder when he became a free agent after leaving Manchester United as they prepared to return to the second-tier for the first time since 1982.
The club’s rise from the National League under Hollywood owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds has been told in the award-winning ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ series.
Manager Phil Parkinson told BBC Sport Wales in July discussions had not progressed but now Williamson, who was on the Inter Milan board when Eriksen played for the Serie A club from 2020-21, has revealed the player’s concerns.
“I reached out to the agent (Martin Schoots),” he told That Wrexham Podcast.
“And what was really interesting in the first call is the reaction was, ‘We don’t want his story to be in a documentary, because we’ve had plenty of opportunities for a documentary for his story’.
“He thought we were calling not because of his footballing capabilities, but because we wanted a documentary story (about Eriksen).
“I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I didn’t even think about that’. Obviously, I’m aware of it, but that wasn’t the reason we were calling.”
Eriksen, who has won 146 international caps, suffered a cardiac arrest playing for Denmark at Euro 2020, but recovered to resume his stellar career.
“We were calling because he could potentially be an interesting footballer,” Williamson added.
“We were looking for players that could play for us in the Championship, difference-makers that could help us be competitive on the pitch.
“After I explained what our actual objectives were, trying to build a competitive squad and that I wasn’t even thinking about it from a documentary perspective, we had a great conversation.”
Williamson said the idea of signing Eriksen was “kicked around”, but the midfielder wanted to continue playing for a “first-tier club”.
