Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg nears Tottenham exit as Gary Neville rages at ‘mess’ v Manchester City
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has continuously been linked with a move away from Tottenham this summer, and his display against Manchester City on Tuesday (14 May) will do him no favours.
The midfielder has come under heavy criticism this campaign, with many suggesting this could be his final season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
With just eight Premier League starts to his name in 2024-25, Hojbjerg has become a backup player in Ange Postecoglou’s team. Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are much-preferred options.
However, with Bissouma injured, the manager chose to field the more experienced 28-year-old as Spurs faced a high-flying Man City team as they continued their search for European football, which unfortunately ended in disappointment as the league leaders took home a 2-0 win.
If not for Guglielmo Vicario, Hojbjerg could have seen his side go 1-0 down very early on as Phil Foden latched onto a deadly mistake from the midfielder, which should have been punished.
Reacting to the moment via Sky Sports (14 May), Gary Neville said: “What a mess, and what a save,” to which Peter Drury replied, “Hojbjerg owes him one!”
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg causes chaos in Tottenham v Manchester City
The Danish midfielder is getting closer and closer to a Spurs exit this summer, and Postecoglou will be in no hurry to keep the player, especially after his no-show against Man City.
As well as his miskick in the Spurs penalty box, Hojbjerg was relatively invisible against Pep Guardiola’s side, with his range of passing the only real positive from his performance.
He managed to keep an 87 per cent accuracy with his passing, as well as complete 67 per cent of his long balls. However, that is where the positives stop. [FotMob]
Despite taking 104 touches, Hojbjerg managed to complete 0 per cent of his attempted dribbles, won 50 per cent of his tackles, 50 per cent of his ground duels, and won 0 per cent of his aerial duels.
While he did make two clearances, not counting the sliced effort that nearly saw Foden register his 18th Premier League goal of the season, he struggled in midfield, being dribbled past twice.
As one of the most experienced players in the Spurs dressing room, Postecoglou should be expecting far more from the veteran, who has amassed nearly 200 appearances for the Lilywhites.
His rankings against defensive midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues will tell the Australian everything he needs to know, though.
Hojbjerg ranks in the bottom 59 percentile for tackles and the bottom 29 percentile for aerial duels won, which suggests that the 28-year-old is more often than not a passenger in his own team. [FBref]
That was evident against Man City on Tuesday night and should have probably sealed the player’s future away from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
In other Tottenham news, Richarlison backed to quit in a big-money deal after Dharmesh Sheth transfer news.
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