Hojbjerg: Official - Signs for Spurs

[HarvSFC]

We're getting £8m for Harrison Reed, an extra £4m for KWP is good business.

[SuperSAINT]

17 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

We're getting £8m for Harrison Reed, an extra £4m for KWP is good business.

Need to check how many pennies are in our Weston McKennie piggy-bank.

[simo]

Do we know where they want Hojbjerg dropping yet , I'll book the taxi .

[Dusic]

21 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

Need to check how many pennies are in our Weston McKennie piggy-bank.

And that he has changed his mind about wanting to play for a team in the CL or EL.

[beatlesaint]

 

From a Spurs fans Twitter page - Højbjerg's ball recovery ability and leadership marked him out as the perfect target for Jose Mourinho's plans.

uh-huh 

 

[TWar]

2 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

 

From a Spurs fans Twitter page - Højbjerg's ball recovery ability and leadership marked him out as the perfect target for Jose Mourinho's plans.

uh-huh 

 

I'm not exactly raving about Hojbjerg myself, he is an average player, but as our former captain and number one in the league for recoveries from midfield, those are objectively his strengths. 

[Dusic]

As is normal, the Spurs fed journalists are stating the difference in the PEH and KWP fees is still £3m.

You can't rely on any fee reports apart from the fact that the truth will be somewhere in the middle of the two sides briefings.

Regardless of the specifics, we swap a player who didn't want to be here for a player who does,  and who solves a position thats been a problem for us ever since we sold Clyne.

Hopefully in future we can avoid letting key players, especially young ones, get down to just a year left on their contract.

[Sinned]

I can see a scenario here where Levy told Mourinho that Saints were not playing ball, and it didn’t look like PEH would be signing.  Mourinho says I expect to be backed, and I want him, so get it done.

From that point, Levy is up a creek without a paddle, as he has to back a high profile manager that he has personally just appointed. 

[Jimmy_D]

1 minute ago, Dusic said:

As is normal, the Spurs fed journalists are stating the difference in the PEH and KWP fees is still £3m.

You can't rely on any fee reports apart from the fact that the truth will be somewhere in the middle of the two sides briefings.

Regardless of the specifics, we swap a player who didn't want to be here for a player who does,  and who solves a position thats been a problem for us ever since we sold Clyne.

Hopefully in future we can avoid letting key players, especially young ones, get down to just a year left on their contract.

That's not exactly a new idea...

Ultimately it's not in the club's control to do that.

[Greenridge]

5 minutes ago, TWar said:

I'm not exactly raving about Hojbjerg myself, he is an average player, but as our former captain and number one in the league for recoveries from midfield, those are objectively his strengths. 

Despite what many will think Ralph had him as his captain and therefore the very first name on the team sheet. 

[Dusic]

Just now, Jimmy_D said:

That's not exactly a new idea...

Ultimately it's not in the club's control to do that.

Of course its not, and it can go both ways as we have seen with Forster.

I recall Semmens or possibly Ross Wilson saying in one of the fans forums that we try to sign players knowing we can increase their pay with a new deal if we would like to.

Whilst its ultimately impossible to know what talks happen, I feel we could sometimes be a bit more aggressive in doing this a bit sooner when players have shown their value. For example, had we tried to extend Clyne and Wanyama one year into their 4 year contracts then surely that would have agreed to that?

Salisu could be a good example as reports indicate he may sign for four years. If after his first season he has done well, I would hope we try to extend his deal then, as otherwise the optimal selling point is not very far away.

Leicester seem to do this well, Chilwell signed a 5 year deal this season which means they can ask for mega money, Maddison about to as well. Good mechanism to protect your club.

[Saint Mikey]

2 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Of course its not, and it can go both ways as we have seen with Forster.

I recall Semmens or possibly Ross Wilson saying in one of the fans forums that we try to sign players knowing we can increase their pay with a new deal if we would like to.

Whilst its ultimately impossible to know what talks happen, I feel we could sometimes be a bit more aggressive in doing this a bit sooner when players have shown their value. For example, had we tried to extend Clyne and Wanyama one year into their 4 year contracts then surely that would have agreed to that?

Salisu could be a good example as reports indicate he may sign for four years. If after his first season he has done well, I would hope we try to extend his deal then, as otherwise the optimal selling point is not very far away.

Leicester seem to do this well, Chilwell signed a 5 year deal this season which means they can ask for mega money, Maddison about to as well. Good mechanism to protect your club.

Did this with Van Dijk and benefited from the £75m transfer fee due the 4 years(?) he had on his contract. Seems strange we haven't with others, particularly the two you mentioned. Even Mane too, although not sure he would have signed another contract anyway.

[Badger]

5 minutes ago, Dusic said:

 

Leicester seem to do this well, Chilwell signed a 5 year deal this season which means they can ask for mega money, Maddison about to as well. Good mechanism to protect your club.

Flaw in your strategy though is that Leicester are reported to be offering Maddison £100,000 a week to sign the new contact. Not sure that is our way.

Although of course we did try something similar when Reed gave Forster his new contract a year into the existing one. Net result we can't offload him.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[Jimmy_D]

4 minutes ago, Saint Mikey said:

Did this with Van Dijk and benefited from the £75m transfer fee due the 4 years(?) he had on his contract. Seems strange we haven't with others, particularly the two you mentioned. Even Mane too, although not sure he would have signed another contract anyway.

Unfortunately some players join Saints because they see us as a stepping stone. It's worth it for Saints because we generally end up with better players than we'd otherwise have had and usually end up making a profit.

I'm certain we'll have tried to extend contracts, and some we do manage to keep for longer, but if they've joined with an eye on the exit door you'll never get them to sign an extension.

[ErwinK1961]

11 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Of course its not, and it can go both ways as we have seen with Forster.

I recall Semmens or possibly Ross Wilson saying in one of the fans forums that we try to sign players knowing we can increase their pay with a new deal if we would like to.

Whilst its ultimately impossible to know what talks happen, I feel we could sometimes be a bit more aggressive in doing this a bit sooner when players have shown their value. For example, had we tried to extend Clyne and Wanyama one year into their 4 year contracts then surely that would have agreed to that?

Salisu could be a good example as reports indicate he may sign for four years. If after his first season he has done well, I would hope we try to extend his deal then, as otherwise the optimal selling point is not very far away.

Leicester seem to do this well, Chilwell signed a 5 year deal this season which means they can ask for mega money, Maddison about to as well. Good mechanism to protect your club.

Agree with the sentiment. Though, just my opinion, I don't think PEH had done anything in the first 1-2 seasons that warranted a new contract. 

[St.JonB]

Is he really good enough to play for a top 6 club? Normally disappointed to see players leave for clubs above us but really not that bothered with this one. I think Spurs fans are going to be very underwhelmed by him. 

[WALK DMC]

4 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Agree with the sentiment. Though, just my opinion, I don't think PEH had done anything in the first 1-2 seasons that warranted a new contract. 

Very good point. It wasn't until 2018-19 (Year 3) that he started to show some potential - I thought that he was excellent that year, he even scored a few goals, but certainly hasn't kicked on from then in the last 12 months. 

[Saint Matty 76]

Spurs journalists still insistent that it's a £3m difference, one of those ones where I doubt we'll find out the real answers.

[tajjuk]

He's obviously strong in some areas and not so so strong in others, whether he can improve remains to be seen. (especially under Mourinho) but Spurs must think he will and will mature into a well rounded centre mid, just like we will probably be thinking KWP can be moulded into the complete full back. 

Though from what I have seen of both players and know of both managers I think we are more likely to end up with a player worth a lot more than we paid.

But good deal overall, hopefully this can be done and sorted quickly so we can get his replacement in. 

If Reed does go for around £8 million and we have £20 million up front from Hojberg then that alone is a decent pot to work with even if this year's budget might be strained because of Covid (and yes there is the £10 million for Salisu).

I mean if we can get in a full back who has looked promising and is already integrated in the squad and the way Ralph works, plus a new promising centre-back, AND get rid of a wantaway midfielder who most of us think is upgradable AND player that hasn't even been in the squad for two years AND come out with about £5-6 million (plus some add ons) then that is IMO some smart business by the club. 

Hopefully if we can get someone like Mckennie in, and get the contracts of Bertrand, JWP and maybe Ings we are looking decently set for next year, with maybe some more funds available if we can shift the deadwood. 

 

[the saint in winchester]

So I often quote the Spurs fan in the office here. His take :

"I don't even know this Hojberg fella, but I know we don't need him. We have Winks for that role. We only need one DM, as we play 3CB and 2 WB. 1 DM and 2 AM. We have Winks, Ndombele already. Jose needs to get them two playing. You're welcome to Walker-Phillips (yeah he can't even get the name right) as we're going to be playing Sessegnon next season (he says Sess can play both sides, although not at once)."

[DT]

1 hour ago, simo said:

Do we know where they want Hojbjerg dropping yet , I'll book the taxi .

It'll probably be 40 yards back or sideways but definitely not forwards from where he says it is

[OttawaSaint]

2 hours ago, DT said:

It'll probably be 40 yards back or sideways but definitely not forwards from where he says it is

And if the taxi crashes he’ll arrive a few moments later waving his arms around.

[S-Clarke]

I reckon it'll be what was reported by someone a few days ago - 18-20m guaranteed, rest in add-on's. Hopefully realistic ones.

8m guaranteed for KWP is my hunch, with the rest in add-ons. Not a bad deal for either all being told. Should break us even in the transfer funds. Will need to sell further before we can buy anymore unfortunately.

[beatlesaint]

31 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I reckon it'll be what was reported by someone a few days ago - 18-20m guaranteed, rest in add-on's. Hopefully realistic ones.

8m guaranteed for KWP is my hunch, with the rest in add-ons. Not a bad deal for either all being told. Should break us even in the transfer funds. Will need to sell further before we can buy anymore unfortunately.

Vestergaard and Reed with hopefully about 75 pence for Hoedt 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

I reckon it'll be what was reported by someone a few days ago - 18-20m guaranteed, rest in add-on's. Hopefully realistic ones.

8m guaranteed for KWP is my hunch, with the rest in add-ons. Not a bad deal for either all being told. Should break us even in the transfer funds. Will need to sell further before we can buy anymore unfortunately.

Ralph said that we would bring two in and then it would depend on who left. The two being KWP or another right back and Salisu. I take that to be the money spent on Salisu and KWP was part of the budget with anything else being funded by sales, much like Adams and Djenepo last summer. So I’d expect us to also sale reed and bring in a first choice replacement. We Will also bring in another CB if Vestegaard goes.

[Saint Keef]

1 hour ago, beatlesaint said:

Vestergaard and Reed with hopefully about 75 pence for Hoedt 

Steady on......Hoedt must have improved since I saw him. Like watching Bambi on ice. 

[davefizzy14]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Ralph said that we would bring two in and then it would depend on who left. The two being KWP or another right back and Salisu. I take that to be the money spent on Salisu and KWP was part of the budget with anything else being funded by sales, much like Adams and Djenepo last summer. So I’d expect us to also sale reed and bring in a first choice replacement. We Will also bring in another CB if Vestegaard goes.

Turkish are we interested in the Celtic midfielder and McKennie as potential replacements for Pierre? 

[The Curse of St Mary's]

 

[SuperSAINT]

* Beaten to it

Edited 6 August, 2020 by SuperSAINT

[CB Fry]

Spurs sources and SFC sources in not quite agreeing shock.

[Turkish]

40 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

Turkish are we interested in the Celtic midfielder and McKennie as potential replacements for Pierre? 

News to come in the next few days on potential signings to replace the average Dane. No Q&A for now please

 

[View From The Top]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

News to come in the next few days on potential signings to replace the average Dane. No Q&A for now please

 

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[woodsaint1]

Trying to compare Hojbjerg leaving with other players who have left us in recent years. I'll group him with Jay Rodriguez. Decent player but not overly bothered by him leaving as I think we'll find a good replacement

[davefizzy14]

30 minutes ago, Turkish said:

News to come in the next few days on potential signings to replace the average Dane. No Q&A for now please

 

Ok then I will stay patient

[Baird of the land]

Guessing there’s a lot more add ons with kwp than hojberg which maybe why there’s differences in reported fees.

[Cartman]

17 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

Trying to compare Hojbjerg leaving with other players who have left us in recent years. I'll group him with Jay Rodriguez. Decent player but not overly bothered by him leaving as I think we'll find a good replacement

Jack Cork?

[Matthew Le God]

21 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

Trying to compare Hojbjerg leaving with other players who have left us in recent years. I'll group him with Jay Rodriguez. Decent player but not overly bothered by him leaving as I think we'll find a good replacement

 

3 minutes ago, Cartman said:

Jack Cork?

Cork left for Swansea, Rodriguez left for West Brom Neither of them were regulars for Saints at the time, so not really comparable with our (former) captain leaving for Tottenham.

Edited 6 August, 2020 by Matthew Le God

[Professor]

If Hojberg scores as many goals for Spurs as he has for us, Saints fans will be very pleased. 

[SaintJackoInHurworth]

So, on the one hand, reporters for BBC and the Echo say we have received much closer to our original asking price of £25 than was previously bid by Spurs, with one of them saying we are receiving £20m with add-ons.

On the other hand meanwhile a reporter for a football website is claiming we will receive £15m rising to £19m.

Firstly, I know which one of those sound most reputable to me and it's not the guy who works in internet journalism!

Secondly, though, while those figures do seem mutually exclusive I wonder if there is a way in which both can be correct or close to correct...?! Let me suggest one possibility...

* Spurs pay £15m up front. Then they will pay £4m in instalments over the next four years I e. £1m each year. On top of this they have a number of add-ons relating to number of appearances, success in Europe, International caps, etc.

In that scenario, both reports could be deemed to be vaguely correct. On the one hand, we are receiving in the area of £20m guaranteed (actually £19m but it's close!) with add-ons on top. On the other hand we ARE also being paid £15m rising to £19m - albeit there are other add-ons too!

Just a thought!!

[OttawaSaint]

38 minutes ago, Cartman said:

Jack Cork?

Jose Fonte?

[Cartman]

36 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

Cork left for Swansea, Rodriguez left for West Brom Neither of them were regulars for Saints at the time, so not really comparable with our (former) captain leaving for Tottenham.

Comparing quality level, not place in our pecking order. Cork had Wanyama and Schneiderlin for competition and Hojbjerg isn't anywhere near as good as they were. And lets be honest here, Spurs are skint and the reason they want Hojbjerg is because he solid, experienced, good age and his contract makes him relatively cheap, not because he's a world beater. Kind of like Cork when he left.

[igsey]

26 minutes ago, SaintJackoInHurworth said:

So, on the one hand, reporters for BBC and the Echo say we have received much closer to our original asking price of £25 than was previously bid by Spurs, with one of them saying we are receiving £20m with add-ons.

On the other hand meanwhile a reporter for a football website is claiming we will receive £15m rising to £19m.

Firstly, I know which one of those sound most reputable to me and it's not the guy who works in internet journalism!

Secondly, though, while those figures do seem mutually exclusive I wonder if there is a way in which both can be correct or close to correct...?! Let me suggest one possibility...

* Spurs pay £15m up front. Then they will pay £4m in instalments over the next four years I e. £1m each year. On top of this they have a number of add-ons relating to number of appearances, success in Europe, International caps, etc.

In that scenario, both reports could be deemed to be vaguely correct. On the one hand, we are receiving in the area of £20m guaranteed (actually £19m but it's close!) with add-ons on top. On the other hand we ARE also being paid £15m rising to £19m - albeit there are other add-ons too!

Just a thought!!

David Ornstein is very well respected and clued up about the London clubs. What he says about Arsenal is basically gospel.

[Professor]

It seems to me that Hojbrg not being in the Saints' team hasn't weakened the side at all.  The way is now open for other players to out perform Hojberg's record.  As far as goal scoring goes, 4 goals in four seasons and 3 seasons without out scoring at all, doesn't exactly set a high bar.  I can't work out how the player is worth the fee that has been agreed.  Walker-Peters, on the other hand, has demonstrated how good a player he is by his performances and speed in the 10-game sub-season after the restart.  I was concerned that Spurs would cotton-on the what they were losing and hike their price, or even withdraw KWP from sale. To exchange those two players with money left over to put towards the Salisu purchase seems an extremely good deal and I imagine he recruitment department are feeling justifiably satisfied. 

 

[StrangelyBrown]

6 minutes ago, Professor said:

It seems to me that Hojbrg not being in the Saints' team hasn't weakened the side at all.  The way is now open for other players to out perform Hojberg's record.  As far as goal scoring goes, 4 goals in four seasons and 3 seasons without out scoring at all, doesn't exactly set a high bar.  I can't work out how the player is worth the fee that has been agreed.  Walker-Peters, on the other hand, has demonstrated how good a player he is by his performances and speed in the 10-game sub-season after the restart.  I was concerned that Spurs would cotton-on the what they were losing and hike their price, or even withdraw KWP from sale. To exchange those two players with money left over to put towards the Salisu purchase seems an extremely good deal and I imagine he recruitment department are feeling justifiably satisfied. 

 

 

Right now hojbjerg is exactly what spurs want, but I can't help feeling that when mourinho is gone he'll be a forgotten man (particularly as levy tends to select the opposite sort of manager to what he's just had).

He's great against the ball, he's disciplined, works hard, wins the ball back well, etc. This is what makes him a player that mourinho wants and what made him so effective when we were trying to grind out results last year. However, he's entirely limited on the ball, he's ponderous, his passing forward is bang average at best and his shooting is awful. The next progression in Ralf's master plan is about being effective with the ball - something that hojbjerg just isn't good enough at, which is why he had looked so poor in the latter part of the season.

IMO we're well shot of him and the fee feels like we've done very good business.

[Mozz]

10 hours ago, igsey said:

David Ornstein is very well respected and clued up about the London clubs. What he says about Arsenal is basically gospel.

Yep.  Wouldn't dismiss The Athletic as not being reputable due to being "internet journalism" given the amount of writers from national/local print/television media they've picked up since launch.

[qwertyell]

2 hours ago, StrangelyBrown said:

 

Right now hojbjerg is exactly what spurs want, but I can't help feeling that when mourinho is gone he'll be a forgotten man (particularly as levy tends to select the opposite sort of manager to what he's just had).

He's great against the ball, he's disciplined, works hard, wins the ball back well, etc. 

I'd argue he's not disciplined at all - and that's his biggest weakness. Positionally he's poor. If you want someone to track runners and/or hold the fort in front of the defence, he's not the guy for the job.

If you want someone to hare around the park and wave his arms at the guys desperately trying to fill in for the huge chasms he's left behind as he loses the ball for the umpteenth time and can't be bothered to sprint back, Hojbjerg's your man.

[StrangelyBrown]

2 hours ago, qwertyell said:

I'd argue he's not disciplined at all - and that's his biggest weakness. Positionally he's poor. If you want someone to track runners and/or hold the fort in front of the defence, he's not the guy for the job.

If you want someone to hare around the park and wave his arms at the guys desperately trying to fill in for the huge chasms he's left behind as he loses the ball for the umpteenth time and can't be bothered to sprint back, Hojbjerg's your man.

I'll give you that he's poor in transition, but I don't think he's positionally poor when we're defending. Just woefully inept in possession which leads to him being out of position as you say when he inevitably loses the ball or turns possession over.

It still begs the question what exactly are spurs getting for their money?

[Saint_clark]

Hojberg would be much more effective as a midfielder who presses high up the pitch to win the ball before laying it off to the more creative players rather than being a player that sits back and shields the defence.

[Professor]

5 hours ago, StrangelyBrown said:

 

Right now hojbjerg is exactly what spurs want, but I can't help feeling that when mourinho is gone he'll be a forgotten man (particularly as levy tends to select the opposite sort of manager to what he's just had).

He's great against the ball, he's disciplined, works hard, wins the ball back well, etc. This is what makes him a player that mourinho wants and what made him so effective when we were trying to grind out results last year. However, he's entirely limited on the ball, he's ponderous, his passing forward is bang average at best and his shooting is awful. The next progression in Ralf's master plan is about being effective with the ball - something that hojbjerg just isn't good enough at, which is why he had looked so poor in the latter part of the season.

IMO we're well shot of him and the fee feels like we've done very good business.

I agree that he was in the side as DFM but when you look at our GA record with Pierre in the side, it wasn't that good, even excluding the 9-0.  Hard to recall previously selling a player for a fee of this kind that has been so welcomed by so many fans.  It's not that PEH wasn't liked but just that for that sort of fee you'd expect more of a stand-out kind of player.

[angelman]

I'm wondering if we do sign Salisu, whether he can partner Bednarek, and push Stephens up to DM. To me he has shown that he can carry the ball forward quite well.