Tottenham transfer: Major development as Spurs midfielder addresses deadline day rumours after lawyer advice
Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has confirmed he will not be leaving the club on transfer deadline day despite interest from a number of European clubs.
Having started just five Premier League games under new manager Ange Postecoglou so far this season, Hojbjerg had been heavily linked with a move away from Spurs in the run up to deadline day.
Juventus, Napoli and Ajax had all been rumoured to be interested in the Danish midfielder, with Hojbjerg reportedly rejecting a move to Lyon on the basis that he regards himself to be a player of Champions League standard.
In an interview with Sky Germany this week, Hojberg’s lawyer Lars Halgreen moved to dismiss reports that the former Southampton captain was seeking a Spurs exit – insisting that his client remains committed to the club until the end of the season.
“Despite rumours and noise, the player always kept focusing on helping the team, coaches and Tottenham,” Halgreen said.
READ MORE: Tottenham transfers: 25 Paratici era signings ranked as Richarlison, Johnson fail to make top ten
“The player never asked to leave now. He’s very ambitious for Tottenham and Denmark. Continuing to keep improving himself, like he did all his career.
“He’s a strong character and player, his only focus is Tottenham to finish the season well and to help as much as possible. Pierre always liked challenges.”
According to The Athletic, Hojbjerg has expressed his desire to see out the season as a Spurs player, stating: “When the lawyer says it, I think we have to listen! So, yeah I can confirm that.”
Speaking after Tottenham’s victory over Brentford on Tuesday, Spurs boss Postecoglou acknowledged the frustrations of Hojbjerg and Bryan Gil, who could join Brighton on loan, over their lack of playing time this season.
But the Australian stressed the need to maintain a healthy squad size with players of the requisite standard.
He said: “With all the players, I look at it the same way. As much as I’m steering this ship, they also have their own [careers]. I speak to players about this all the time. It’s their careers and they have to do what they feel is right as well.
“From my perspective, I need a strong squad. Maybe this year, without being in Europe and obviously being out of the cups, the games now are limited to between now and the end of the year.
But if we want to get to where we want to, then I compare us to the other clubs that we want to try and challenge. They’ve got big squads. They’ve got some pretty good players not starting. I look at it every week when they make substitutions. That’s where we’ve got to get to.
“Whether that’s Bryan or Pierre who maybe feel they should be playing more, if they made a decision that, ‘I need to go somewhere else to play’, I’m going to replace them with somebody who is going to be a good enough player to play in the Premier League but maybe won’t start, because you need that.
“Pierre has played the last two games. I think he’s probably played just about every game this year. He hasn’t started a lot, obviously. Bryan has had a couple of injury problems early in the year and probably hasn’t played as much as he would want to, which I understand.
“But ultimately I’ve got to try to build a squad here that’s going to challenge. That’s only gong to happen if I’ve got 20, 22, 23 players who are all of Premier League standard.
“And that will mean if it’s not Bryan and Pierre, it’s two other players who will come in and maybe aren’t playing as much.
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t rate them or don’t think they’re up to the standard, it’s just you need a squad. We’ve seen it more than anyone with injuries we’ve had.”
