Tottenham Hotspur are closing in on the signing of Southampton midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. The former Saints skipper is in the final year of his contract and has refused a new deal with the club.
The Telegraph has reported that Southampton are going to allow Hojbjerg to leave the club for a fee in the region of £15 million. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was stripped of his captaincy when he told the club that he wanted to leave, earlier this season. The Danish midfielder joined the Saints from Bayern Munich for £12.8 million and has made over 130 appearances for the club.
The 24-year-old is also a full Denmark international having featured 33 times for his national team.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg: Who will he replace in the lineup?
Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has not been convinced by Spurs’ record signing Tanguy Ndombele, who only moved to the north London club last July, for a whopping fee of £55.45 million. The French midfielder played just 21 Premier League games, starting 12 of those.
Another option, Moussa Sissoko, is one player that Mourinho has trusted in the defensive midfield position, while the likes of Harry Winks, Eric Dier, and Giovani Lo Celso have also played there. Dier played as a centre-back in the last few games of the season, and with Jan Vertonghen leaving the club, the Englishman could end up featuring heavily in defence rather than midfield.
This leaves Mourinho with Sissoko and Winks as established options in defensive midfield while Lo Celso is more suited in a more advanced role. The addition of Hojbjerg could well see Sissoko dropping out of the starting XI and he might have to convince Jose all over again to be included in the first-choice eleven in the event of any new acquisitions.
If Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg finds a place in the starting lineup, one out of Ndombele or Winks could well partner him. The Dane is a busy player who is aggressive in the tackle, has great work-rate, and is good in the air – all qualities that the Portuguese manager loves in his midfielders.
Hojbjerg will most likely start alongside Winks in midfield, as the latter is a good passer and controller of the game, while Ndombele could end up being an option off the bench if he fails to get in Jose’s good books early on.
It’s quite clear that Mourinho likes Sissoko and is unlikely to sideline him completely and the Frenchman could well be used in bigger games to add aggression and tackling in midfield, and as a versatile player who can play in midfield, out wide, or also as a full-back, depending on the profile of the opposition.
