Tottenham would be silly to sanction Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg sale in January, Daniel Levy must hold off on sale until the summer
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has long looked like the most likely key Tottenham sale in the January transfer window but Ange Postecoglou and Daniel Levy must now hold off until the summer.
Hojbjerg was heavily linked with a move to La Liga giants Atletico Madrid throughout the last window (Daily Mail, 20 July), while Manchester United (Sky Sports News, 29 August) and Fulham were also reportedly interested.
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano posted on his personal Twitter account (25 September) revealing that the Denmark midfielder ended his contract with agent Pini Zahavi to assess his options in the winter transfer window after he failed to secure a summer move.
With a wealth of midfield options available to him, there was the feeling Postecoglou would have been more than happy to see him out of the door at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The former Bayern Munich man told Danish outlet Bold (6 September) that he had an honest conversation with Postecoglou about his role for the new campaign and insisted that he is ready to give his all whenever opportunities come his way.
Opportunities were not too forthcoming and, until the end of September, Hojbjerg had not started a game in the Premier League, coming on as a substitute in five of Spurs’ six matches [Transfermarkt].
Hojbjerg’s lack of opportunities wasn’t without its reasons too. The rejuvenated Yves Bissouma possesses the energy, drive, intelligence and progressive passing to suit Postecoglou’s high-press style, while Pape Matar Sarr is arguably far more dynamic than the Dane.
Bissouma, as per FBRef, ranks in the 84th percentile for progressive passes and progressive carries, while Hojbjerg ranks much lower for those metrics, in the 81st and 53rd respectively.
There’s also the stark picture evidence that Hojbjerg is not as progressive or as intentional as those two players.
In the above example, Hojbjerg takes the easy option back to Micky van de Ven, slowing the play down rather than trying to beat Bukayo Saka to play Pedro Porro or to progress the ball to an outlet in between the lines in order to get another attacker going – something Postecoglou most likely didn’t enjoy.
However, fast forward a few months and the picture looks a whole lot different for the Danish maestro. Rather than being on the fringes, he could be a crucial Tottenham player again, like he used to be pre-Postecoglou.
With James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur both out until the new year – the latter now possibly out until February – and Bissouma and Sarr both taking part in January’s African Cup of Nations, Postecoglou will find himself short of options in defensive midfield should Hojbjerg be sold.
Hojbjerg has qualities to offer this team and his composure and ability to set a tempo have served him well previously at Tottenham and could yet be vital for the forthcoming weeks and months.
He is by no means a bad midfielder. The senior Spurs man is a regular international for his country with bags of Premier League experience and qualities that he could offer to a lot of sides around Europe.
Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone were interested for a reason.
While his qualities unfortunately may not suit Spurs’ high-pressing, attack-minded forward-thinking manager in the long-term, Spurs have to think short-term given their worrying treatment table right now.
It is not even necessarily the case that Hojbjerg cannot play how his manager wants him to. He ranks in the 81st percentile of midfielders in Europe’s top-five leagues for progressive passes per 90 minutes, 90th percentile for passes into the final third, 90th percentile for live-ball passes, and 81st percentile for goal-creating actions through live-ball passes [FBRef].
He can be progressive when he needs to be or when the opportunity presents itself, as shown in the image below against Fulham last month.
However, it’s his defensive work and ball-winning attributes that will be most scrutinised for Spurs, especially given they are shipping a lot of goals right now – 10 in their past five games [SofaScore].
His defensive numbers certainly don’t make for great reading but those stats are skewed given his limited minutes, averaging 0.4 interceptions, 0.8 tackles and 2.7 balls recovered [SofaScore]. Should Hojbjerg’s minutes increase, those numbers will increase too.
At some stage in early January, Postecoglou could be without four of his key midfielders which means Hojbjerg should be kept on, regardless of whether he suits Spurs or not. He’s fully capable and experienced enough to stand in when needed.
According to The Telegraph (30 November), Spurs may be forced to turn down bids for the Denmark international and rightly so.
Chairman Levy may well be enticed by the potential windfall that could come from selling someone as experienced and marketable as the 28-year-old but it could end up being a costly and silly decision should they sanction it.
Hojbjerg must be kept on until the summer at least.
In other Tottenham news, lightning should strike twice as they have upper-hand in transfer chase for midfield gem.