Tottenham must reduce £30m Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg pricetag with 46th percentile stat a glaring issue
Tottenham are at risk of putting off prospective Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg suitors with their £30million asking price for the Denmark international.
It has become increasingly clear that Hojbjerg is not high on Ange Postecoglou’s list of admired midfielders in north London.
With James Maddison, Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma all unavailable for the visit of Aston Villa on Sunday 26 November, the 28-year-old still couldn’t find a way into Spurs’ starting lineup.
When he did come on to replace Rodrigo Bentancur after the Uruguay international was injured during the first half, there was a noticeable drop-off in the quality of Tottenham’s attacking play, and Aston Villa began to get themselves back into the game and eventually came from behind to win the match 2-1.
After a few seasons as a regular in the club’s midfield, this year has acted as a harsh wake-up call for Hojbjerg, who must now have accepted that while Postecoglou is in charge, his future lies elsewhere.
Hojbjerg is by no means a bad midfielder. He is an international with plenty of Premier League experience and qualities that he could offer to a lot of sides around Europe, those qualities unfortunately just don’t suit Spurs’ high-pressing, attack-minded forward-thinking manager.
As a result, now would be the best time for the former Southampton midfielder to move on and seek a new challenge, and according to The Mirror, he is not short of some top-quality options to do just that.
The newspaper reported in its print edition (28 November, page 59) that Dutch giants Ajax have joined the list of sides chasing the out-of-favour Spurs man, a list which also includes the likes of European heavyweights Juventus and Atletico Madrid.
Any of those three clubs would represent a big move for Hojbjerg and a chance to challenge for trophies, so it is understandable that he is considering his future, and if a move is to materialise, he will certainly be thankful he turned down a switch to Fulham during the summer.
However, one big roadblock stands in the Denmark international’s way, and that is the tough negotiating skills of Daniel Levy, with the club currently valuing their asset at £30million, which is putting prospective suitors off.
Spurs are reportedly willing to compromise in January and in all fairness, that potential compromise is only right.
While it is understandable that Spurs would want to get the most money possible for a player of Hojbjerg’s quality and experience, a few statistical issues suggest a £30million price tag is slightly steep.
As per fbref, there are very few areas where Hojbjerg has excelled in the Premier League this season. While he does sit in the 98th percentile for a couple of stats compared to his positional peers in the competition, one of those is simply just for the number of touches he has made in the defensive third (21.59 per 90).
The other is for the percentage of aerial battles that he has won (73.5 per cent per 90), but that is about as impressive as it gets.
His next most notable stats are the number of switches he has made (1.15 per 90) for which he sits in the 96th percentile, and the number of touches he has made within his own penalty area (3.87 per 90) a stat he ranks in the 93rd percentile for, but once again, these aren’t necessarily things to write home about.
He is a reliable passer of the ball, ranking in the mid to high 80 percentile region for most of his passing numbers, but so far there are very few standout points to suggest that he is worth the kind of figure Tottenham are asking for.
What will be most concerning to potential buyers is his lack of impact in the final third. Hojbjerg ranks in just the 46th percentile for his number of goal contributions in the Premier League so far this season (0.15 per 90) and finds himself in the lower 50 percentile for almost all of his shooting statistics.
Ajax, one of the clubs interested in Hojbjerg, recently sold Edson Alvarez to Spurs’ London rivals West Ham for £35.4million (Sky Sports News, 10 August), and the Mexico international’s numbers, particularly defensively, compared to Hojberg this season suggest the Dutch side would be unwise to spend the majority of that fee on the Tottenham man.
Alvarez has won more tackles than Hojbjerg (2.27 vs 1.90 per 90), made more tackles in his defensive third (1.21 vs 0.86 per 90), and more clearances (3.33 vs 2.05 per 90).
While there are of course some areas Hojbjerg excels in compared to Alvarez, the numbers are largely similar, and considering the West Ham man is two years younger, it would make little sense for Ajax to reinvest the fee they received for him into a player such as Hojbjerg.
Nonetheless, if Spurs are willing to compromise, the deal might become slightly more favourable, and Levy might find that more clubs join the list of potential suitors for Hojbjerg.
In other Tottenham news, Alan Hutton has revealed why Spurs’ game against Aston Villa could have been halted before kick-off.