The final ten days of the summer transfer window could well determine where exactly Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is playing his football from September onwards. Previously an automatic starter in the Tottenham XI following his move from Southampton in September 2020, the Denmark international has so far had to watch on from the substitutes’ bench in the club’s first two games of the new campaign.
Introduced for the final 14 minutes of last weekend’s victory over Manchester United, Hojbjerg did help Spurs get over the line with an assured display in midfield as he used the ball well and played his part defensively to frustrate the visitors. It’s hard to see where regular starts are going to come for him at Tottenham, though, especially with Yves Bissouma excelling in the No.6 role under Ange Postecoglou.
Ever since the transfer window opened for business earlier in the summer, Hojbjerg has been linked with a switch to Atletico Madrid but, despite those constant links, he still remains a Tottenham player. If a transfer to the Civitas Metropolitan Stadium is to come to fruition, Atleti will need to make their move rather quickly as the 11pm deadline on Friday, September 1 is edging ever closer.
Finances have been cited as a possible reason for the Spanish side not completing a transfer thus far as they reportedly need to generate the funds to conclude the deal. One possible outgoing from Atleti that has been mooted over the past few days is Argentina World Cup winner Rodrigo de Paul departing Diego Simeone’s team to link up with Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia.
Tipped to make the move with Atleti receiving €32milllon (£27million) for his services, the incoming money could have been put towards a possible deal for Hojbjerg. However, it now appears that De Paul will be remaining in Madrid as Gaston Edul of TyC Sports reported on Monday evening that the player has rejected the move to Saudi Arabia and instead decided to remain with the Spanish side.
Quite what De Paul staying in Spain means in terms of Hojbjerg’s long-term future remains to be seen. A move to Al-Ahli for De Paul would have sparked a transfer merry-go-round at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Postecoglou would have needed to bring in a replacement for the Dane had he moved to Spain.
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That could still be the case prior to deadline day but that will all come down to the clubs agreeing on a suitable deal for the ex-Bayern Munich player. Speaking to the media ahead of last weekend’s Premier League game, Postecoglou did admit that some of the players who have been linked with transfers away from the club may not depart so he cannot afford to burn bridges with anyone.
“That may well be the case, you just don’t know. It’s a funny sort of transfer season. There’s a lot happening at the top end and very little below that, from an external point of view,” said the Spurs head coach. “I’m reticent to send any messages around that stuff because it’s not something I’m really close to right now in terms of my involvement with where we’re at in terms of those outgoings.
“Obviously I’m aware what’s happening in all those spaces because at the moment the squad is too big, we need to trim it. But in terms of what that’s going to look like from any kind of aspect, I’m not really sure how it’s all going to end up.”
Whereas previous head coach Antonio Conte was very clear in regards to who was and who was not in his plans, Postecoglou does not believe in can work that way as he may need someone unexpectedly in the not too distant future.
“You have to be flexible. I won’t speak for Antonio [Conte] but I don’t think football is that black and white as there are so many moving parts to it,” he explained. “The reality is that you might not get a player out and he might be part of your squad and you need him as you are not going to go with a man down and you need that person.
“You might want to bring someone in and it is not going to happen. You can’t turn around and say we can’t achieve what we want to. We are in constant dialogue with Daniel [Levy] and everyone else in the football department and there are a lot of moving parts. Hopefully when we get to the end of the window we want to be in a space where we have got the majority of what we want to do.”
With De Paul now appearing to be set to remain with Atletico amid all that speculation regarding a switch to Saudi Arabia, question marks still persist over Hojbjerg’s future. It is something Postecoglou and Tottenham will want addressing sooner rather than later as they plan for the future in N17.