Tottenham Hotspur are well-stocked with central midfielders, and none of them played more minutes the past two seasons that Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. Despite that, the Athletic is reporting that both General Ho and Tottenham are open to the possibility of a summer sale to another club.
Hojbjerg has been nominally linked with a return to Bayern Munich as well as more recent ties to Atletico Madrid. The Athletic states that neither of these rumors have really gathered any steam, and there has not been any contact between Spurs and another club for Hojbjerg’s services.
That said, the appointment of Ange Postecoglou changes the calculus here. Ange is looking for a couple of midfield 8s that have a somewhat different profile than what Hojbjerg brings to the table. I’ve said this before on this website — it’s not that Pierre couldn’t (or wouldn’t) fit into Postecoglou’s tactics, but it’s that all of Spurs’ current crop of DMs are samey, Pierre has had a ton of miles put on his legs over the past couple of seasons, and he’s almost certainly Tottenham’s most salable midfield asset.
Tottenham already have Rodrigo Bentancur (who is injured probably until January 2024), Yves Bissouma, Oliver Skipp, and Pape Sarr. We don’t know what Postecoglou has in store for younger players like Skipp and Sarr (it’s not out of the question that one heads out on loan), Bissouma looks like an ideal fit as a 6 under Big Ange, Spurs have no intention of selling Bentancur, and Postecoglou now has the option of including either Dejan Kulusevski or James Maddison as an 8 in his system. That’s already a lot of midfielders, and we also know Spurs are trying to slim down with no European football this season.
In other words, Spurs don’t HAVE to sell Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t really consider it. We’ll be watching carefully, because if a good offer comes in for Pierre (£25-30m?), I would not at all be surprised if Spurs jump at that chance.
