Hojbjerg: Official - Signs for Spurs

[skintsaint]

Hard to blame him for the first ultimately but the 2nd was a terribly hit ball to Stephens which killed the game.

[Whitey Grandad]

His instinct is to pass backwards yet he can’t even do that very well. When he gets it wrong it puts our defence under pressure.

i can’t remember seeing him receive the ball, turn round and pass it forwards.

[Dusic]

On 6/25/2020 at 11:18 PM, aintforever said:

Is he actually going to get a “big money move”? Got to be agent talk surely, he’s just bang average at best.

Hasenhuttl:

"As always, I don’t want to speak about any rumours [on Pierre], any possibilities. But you can be sure there are a few clubs around this."

https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/football-news/southampton-tottenham-hojbjerg-transfer-news-4269196

 

[Saint Keef]

We didn't seem to miss PEH at all against Watford today. I thought Romeo and Smallbone both looked far more composed. Better at breaking up play and far better distribution - and normally playing it forward as opposed to PEH's stray passing, mainly sideways and backwards. 

Anyone of the supposed bigger clubs who saw PEH's "performance" against Arsenal must have serious reservations about signing him. Frankly I thought he looked a liability, clumsy in the tackle and very poor distribution.  

Not sure if this has been mentioned here before, but In some respects I see similarities with Jose Fontes situation. Club Captain. His head is turned by talk of apparent interest from so called bigger clubs, (how much of that is agent talk?) and thinking he can do better than Saints. Look what happened to Jose when it turned out the "bigger" clubs (Man U in particular I recall) weren't actually interested. A very dodgy move to West Ham which was far from successful and resulted, as far as I know,  in the end of his career in England.

PEH has been a reasonable player for Saints, but to me, nothing out of the ordinary. Average sometimes, poor too many times and rarely above average. 

So......(tongue slightly in cheek) what are the chances of PEH ending up at West Ham? - seems like just the player they will come in and spend some money for, thinking they have outdone arch rivals Spurs......who weren't really interested after he assisted in gifting Arsenal a couple of goals.

Just saying.......

[OttawaSaint]

I’d say that in all his time at the club, his strongest performance was probably that time he had to fill in at LB. He kept it simple and wasn’t really in a position to put us under much pressure with his errant passing and always looking to go backwards.

[Saint_clark]

I totally get that players who come to us will possibly see us as a stepping stone and in all honesty that transfer policy is the best one for us as it's the one that got us into Europe and the top 6. 

But they need to realise that if they don't perform to a very good standard, they can't still expect a big money move.

[saintwbu]

I don't think we'll miss him at all, personally. JWP does all the majority of the combative work in this team, and he does it bloody well. I like a kid coming through the ranks anyway, but I really like the look of Smallbone from what i've seen - calm, composed, always looking forward and lovely passer of the ball. At home, I think we'd be far better with one ball winner, one player (JWP/Smallbone combo). If away from home we're still keen to go with two ball winners then JWP/Romeu as a combo is just fine imo. 

[rooney]

agree with saintwbu regarding Smallbone's passing ability, something which PEH has not got.

[Ashby Saint]

From what I've seen PEH to Spurs for KWP plus cash is a bit of a no-brainer.

[Viking Saint]

18 minutes ago, Ashby Saint said:

From what I've seen PEH to Spurs for KWP plus cash is a bit of a no-brainer.

To be honest, I'm not sure who in the Premiership, is going to want PEH or pay what we want for him. He simply isn't top 6 standard, and going anywhere else isn't going to give him what he's aspiring to. To cap it off, based on yesterday's performance, he's not going to be missed. With Smallbone, we now have four players who are all capable of performing very well in CM. 

[Saint Garrett]

Although I take your point in that he's not going to walk into a top side, but he's clearly got talent, works his arse off, and is a leader.  I think we forget he's still only 24, and has played over 150 top flight games.

I like Smallbone, but he's not ready yet to sit and replace Hojbjerg in CM, and it's good him to be eased in like Prowsey has been over the years.  

Who knows...if we can't get the money we want for him, and he can't get a move to one of the "big boys", then he might end up staying and signing a new contract, especially if we manage to sneak into the top half this season.  I certainly wouldn't be upset about that.

If he does go, then I'll be urging him to succeed and fulfill his dreams. Whether he is good enough, that remains to be seen.

[Dan Johnson]

As already mentioned, from a talent perspective I think PEH is playing at his level with us, he'd be a bit part player at a top 6 club.

However, I dont think we can underestimate the impact he has on the side, he has set the tone in terms of effort levels over the last 12 months. 

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Ashby Saint said:

From what I've seen PEH to Spurs for KWP plus cash is a bit of a no-brainer.

After one decent game ... against Watford ?

Depends how much the cash is though, and what they're valuing KWP at. Think we could aim for, and bring in better.

[WALK DMC]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

After one decent game ... against Watford ?

Depends how much the cash is though, and what they're valuing KWP at. Think we could aim for, and bring in better.

Totally agree. This season the SaintsWeb responses after a match usually follow a similar pattern. Play away and all our players are world beaters, play at home and we need to replace them all. The Watford game is par for the course; KWP, Smallbone, & Adams are suddenly the replacements that will transform our team. 

KWP seems to be a very technically able player - nice control and neat passing, but there are question marks about his physicality and I've yet to see him demonstrate the ability to overlap behind a full-back which is a requirement these days for a full-back. Not writing him off, but he still has much to prove and I sense that Ralph would prefer better.  Valery's abysmal form has given him an opportunity though. 

I have similar thoughts on Smallbone; very tidy, technically able and seems to have more creativity than the likes of Hojberg.  But  he is only 20 and currently lacks the physicality and presence to play as a direct replacement for the likes of Hojberg or Romeu in the centre of midfield. I think playing him wide as per yesterday gave him some protection and will allow him to develop his potential. Hopefully he'll get quite a few chances in the last 6 games and help him be ready for next year. 

I thought Adams looking pacey and hungry yesterday and made a decent impact. I'm still not convinced that he is a Premier league forward though. The inability to win a header or kick a ball with his left foot remains a major drawback and even a lucky goal off his backside won't change these fundamental weaknesses.

[Ashby Saint]

2 hours ago, Badger said:

After one decent game ... against Watford ?

Depends how much the cash is though, and what they're valuing KWP at. Think we could aim for, and bring in better.

I agree he has had limited playing time, but I would add that he played very well against Arsenal.  It was obvious that he is miles better than Valery.  Other options at better value?  Maybe, I don't know.  My opinion is that Valery is not good enough to be the first RB on the team sheet and someone needs to come in.  If the Spurs deal is reasonable, we should take it.  Buying fringe defenders from Top 6 clubs has worked for us before (Bertie, Chelsea).

[Piran]

21 minutes ago, Ashby Saint said:

I agree he has had limited playing time, but I would add that he played very well against Arsenal.  It was obvious that he is miles better than Valery.  Other options at better value?  Maybe, I don't know.  My opinion is that Valery is not good enough to be the first RB on the team sheet and someone needs to come in.  If the Spurs deal is reasonable, we should take it.  Buying fringe defenders from Top 6 clubs has worked for us before (Bertie, Chelsea).

The problem with that proposal is that Spurs, at least under Levy, don't do 'reasonable'. 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, WALK DMC said:

Totally agree. This season the SaintsWeb responses after a match usually follow a similar pattern. Play away and all our players are world beaters, play at home and we need to replace them all. The Watford game is par for the course; KWP, Smallbone, & Adams are suddenly the replacements that will transform our team. 

KWP seems to be a very technically able player - nice control and neat passing, but there are question marks about his physicality and I've yet to see him demonstrate the ability to overlap behind a full-back which is a requirement these days for a full-back. Not writing him off, but he still has much to prove and I sense that Ralph would prefer better.  Valery's abysmal form has given him an opportunity though. 

I have similar thoughts on Smallbone; very tidy, technically able and seems to have more creativity than the likes of Hojberg.  But  he is only 20 and currently lacks the physicality and presence to play as a direct replacement for the likes of Hojberg or Romeu in the centre of midfield. I think playing him wide as per yesterday gave him some protection and will allow him to develop his potential. Hopefully he'll get quite a few chances in the last 6 games and help him be ready for next year. 

I thought Adams looking pacey and hungry yesterday and made a decent impact. I'm still not convinced that he is a Premier league forward though. The inability to win a header or kick a ball with his left foot remains a major drawback and even a lucky goal off his backside won't change these fundamental weaknesses.

Pretty decent analysis. In my eyes PEH would not be replaced by Smallbone and should he leave we'd bring a senior pro in allowing Smallbone to keep developing, but not being relied upon.

 

[Chez]

20 minutes ago, Piran said:

The problem with that proposal is that Spurs, at least under Levy, don't do 'reasonable'. 

Keeping KWP on the books is just dead money for Spurs and that should be the starting point of any negotiations, assuming we see him as the answer. I wonder who else in the Prem would be chasing him. Burnley maybe? Cant see them offering Spurs a big fee or the player huge wages. We should drive a very hard bargain unless there isn't another half decent right back in Europe we can attract.

[ErwinK1961]

11 minutes ago, Chez said:

Keeping KWP on the books is just dead money for Spurs and that should be the starting point of any negotiations, assuming we see him as the answer. I wonder who else in the Prem would be chasing him. Burnley maybe? Cant see them offering Spurs a big fee or the player huge wages. We should drive a very hard bargain unless there isn't another half decent right back in Europe we can attract.

It's hard to know what RH's thoughts are on KWP - seemed to want to persist with Valery, until it became untenable with his terrible performances. Perhaps money is that tight that RH wanted to give Valery every opportunity to show he can step up? Or perhaps we're 'playing it cool' to try and show Spurs we're not that desperate to sign him, to try and keep the price down?

I hope we have a maximum price in mind and walk away if Levy gets greedy. I'm sure there must be a similar standard players in Europe somewhere that we can pick up for a reasonable cost.

That being said, it we can get KWP and enough money to buy Salisu for e.g., in exchange for PEH, that's probably not a bad result. 

 

[SuperSAINT]

 

[trousers]

Saints valuing Hojbjerg at £35m (according to the Express.... yes, I know....)

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1303025/Tottenham-news-Jose-Mourinho-agree-swap-deal-Pierre-Emile-Hojbjerg-rumours-gossip

[skintsaint]

30m + KWP then.

[waylander]

21 minutes ago, trousers said:

Saints valuing Hojbjerg at £35m (according to the Express.... yes, I know....)

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1303025/Tottenham-news-Jose-Mourinho-agree-swap-deal-Pierre-Emile-Hojbjerg-rumours-gossip

The Telegraph quoted the same valuation

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, trousers said:

Saints valuing Hojbjerg at £35m (according to the Express.... yes, I know....)

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1303025/Tottenham-news-Jose-Mourinho-agree-swap-deal-Pierre-Emile-Hojbjerg-rumours-gossip

Somebody must be seeing something that I’m not seeing.

[spyinthesky]

If Hojbjerg is valued at £35m what would the price for JWP.

I have not been his greatest fan but got to say he has been spot on recently and a proper club player.

[Badger]

Not sure I recognise Hojberg from this:

Doesn't tally with some of descriptions on here or some of the performances I've witnessed from him.

Selective editing, or perhaps he's misjudged. Probably somewhere in between.

[Badger]

He does look a £35m player on there though. 

[SuperSAINT]

Interestingly, The Telegraph is reporting Spurs rejected a swap deal with Juventus involving Ndombele & Aaron Ramsey https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/07/03/tottenham-reject-ndombele-ramsey-swap-deal-juventus/

[Saint Garrett]

On 01/07/2020 at 17:43, Badger said:

He does look a £35m player on there though. 

He probably is in this current market.  I'm not quite sure why, but he's criminally underrated from some of our fans.  Does an excellent job for us.

[Lets B Avenue]

On 01/07/2020 at 17:43, Badger said:

Not sure I recognise Hojberg from this:

Doesn't tally with some of descriptions on here or some of the performances I've witnessed from him.

Selective editing, or perhaps he's misjudged. Probably somewhere in between.

And had to lose his tattoos.

[The Curse of St Mary's]

1 hour ago, Saint Garrett said:

He probably is in this current market.  I'm not quite sure why, but he's criminally underrated from some of our fans.  Does an excellent job for us.

Because he's bang average with the ball at his feet.

[saintwbu]

Spurs fans don’t seem excited at all by it, can’t blame them. But I do actually think he’d be good for them, he’s a Mourinho type player, a brute who covers a lot of ground. At Spurs he’ll have the quality around him to allow him to just run around and battle, we don’t have that so his shortcomings are there to see. 

[SuperSAINT]

Snippet on Everton’s interest:

Quote

Ancelotti is also monitoring the situation with Southampton midfielder Pierre Emile Hojbjerg.

The former Bayern Munich midfielder was recently stripped of his club’s captaincy after refusing to sign a new deal. He has 12 months left on his existing contract.

Asked if he had an interest in the player, Ancelotti was non-committal.

“I know Hojbjerg, he’s a good player. He is playing for Southampton, so I don’t want to talk about another Premier League player that we are playing against soon,” said Ancelotti.

“I can give an opinion about him at the end of the season.”

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/07/03/no-way-lucas-digne-will-allowed-leave-everton-summer-says-carlo/

Said it the other day, but it would likely be a much quicker transfer saga if Everton signed him.  Levy will try and stretch it to October.

Edited 3 July, 2020 by SuperSAINT
Link added

[Professor]

If he wants to win silverware, why go to Everton? Probably because no better club is interested. Players sometimes get an inflated opinion of their own ability and he seems to be one of them.  Anyone got a 'Not Wanted on Voyage' sticker?

[tajjuk]

On 30/06/2020 at 19:56, spyinthesky said:

If Hojbjerg is valued at £35m what would the price for JWP.
 

Over £50 million I'd reckon, even with the financial impact of covid, he'd be on of those players that I think any manager would like, very professional, does a huge amount of running, tackles, interceptions, very good at understanding his tactical role and can probably convey tactical instructions from the manager on the pitch to the other players a bit like a quarter back, technically sound at everything he does and offers a set piece threat. 

I can see him being one of those signings at a big club where he goes for a massive fee and everyone questions it but he ends up being a key component for many years, like Henderson for Liverpool or Fernandino, of course I hope we keep him and that doesn't happen.

I also think he'll be one of those players still playing at the top level at like 36-37. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

19 hours ago, tajjuk said:

Over £50 million I'd reckon, even with the financial impact of covid, he'd be on of those players that I think any manager would like, very professional, does a huge amount of running, tackles, interceptions, very good at understanding his tactical role and can probably convey tactical instructions from the manager on the pitch to the other players a bit like a quarter back, technically sound at everything he does and offers a set piece threat. 

I can see him being one of those signings at a big club where he goes for a massive fee and everyone questions it but he ends up being a key component for many years, like Henderson for Liverpool or Fernandino, of course I hope we keep him and that doesn't happen.

I also think he'll be one of those players still playing at the top level at like 36-37. 

You must be related to him.

[Matthew Le God]

47 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

You must be related to him.

- Ward-Prowse and Hojbjerg are 8th and 9th in the PL this season for tackles won for any position.

- Ward-Prowse is 1st in the Premier League for distance covered.

In the stats concerning the role they both do in Hasenhuttl's system... they are very good and seemingly undervalued by many Saints fans as to just how good they are!

[Edmonton Saint]

Is Hojbjerg injured or just out of favour right now?

[the boy from saints]

1 hour ago, DarrenLeTiss said:

Is Hojbjerg injured or just out of favour right now?

Out of favour I would guess! Who cares now! We're playing better without him!

[stevy777_x]

6 minutes ago, the boy from saints said:

Out of favour I would guess! Who cares now! We're playing better without him!

He s injured. Do you follow Saints?

[The Cat]

Wasn't he "unavailable" rather than injured? 

[Dusic]

4 minutes ago, The Cat said:

Wasn't he "unavailable" rather than injured? 

No, he is injured.

[washsaint]

Well hopefully he stays injured for the rest of the season!

[SuperSAINT]

8 minutes ago, washsaint said:

Well hopefully he stays injured for the rest of the season!

Harsh.

[Dark Munster]

Is he injured or "injured"?

[trousers]

24 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

Is he injured or "injured"?

My hunch is the latter

[Behind Enemy Lines]

22 minutes ago, trousers said:

My hunch is the latter

Mine too. Going by the performances without him and our emerging talent, I’m more than happy about that too. 

[S-Clarke]

I don't think we'd have held out if he was on the pitch today. We've been in similar positions over the last couple of years at home, and he just goes to pot. I remember one game in particular, 90 odd mins, needed a calm clearance from the back and he just launched it straight up in the air and put us in the shit.

He's not a terrible player, but he's not someone we're going to miss that much.

[Dusic]

52 minutes ago, trousers said:

My hunch is the latter

Any reason why thats your hunch? He quite clearly went off injured in the Arsenal game.

Hasenhuttl has also been extremely complimentary about his attitude since he said he wasnt going to be captain.

Sure, he didnt have his best game vs Arsenal, just like many of our players, but he was good and committed versus Norwich.

Personally feel there is nothing to suggest other than he is injured. Genuinely injured.

[trousers]

13 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Any reason why thats your hunch?

Nope, just an unsubstantiated hunch

(I acknowledge he had a genuine knock during the Arsenal game but I suspect things may have moved on a bit since then. There again, he may still be genuinely injured. Who knows)