Tottenham may lose more than just Harry Kane to Bayern Munich this summer, with reliable reporter Alasdair Gold revealing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is also a target for the Bundesliga champions.
What's the latest Tottenham transfer news?
Ange Postecoglou has got straight to work reshaping the squad left behind by Antonio Conte and Ryan Mason this summer. Having secured the permanent captures of loan stars Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevski, Spurs have since signed James Maddison from Leicester City in a deal worth roughly £40m as well as new shot-stopper Guglielmo Vicario for a fee in the region £17m, while there have been plenty of outgoings too (Transfermarkt).
Harry Winks has left to aid Leicester’s promotion efforts while Lucas Moura is departing as a free agent, and it remains to be seen if Clement Lenglet will return permanently after his loan deal last season.
Perhaps the biggest saga of all however is that surrounding Harry Kane’s future, with the club legend and talisman once again the centre of tiresome and seemingly never-ending exit links.
In previous summers it was Manchester City and Manchester United strongly linked with landing the record goalscorer and skipper, and this time around it’s Bayern Munich, with reports even going so far as to say Kane wants to play for the German champions.
However, he may not be the only Spurs star making his way to Bavaria based on recent reports…
Is Hojbjerg leaving Spurs?
According to the reliable Gold, writing an update on Postecoglou’s midfield options for football.london, Hojbjerg could also go to Bayern.
That is because the 27 year-old is “open to a move to play for a club in the Champions League” and is drawing interest from both Munich and also Atletico Madrid in Spain.
Gold writes that the £102k-per-week Denmark international “does not fit as well into the Postecoglou system” and that “this feels like a time when a parting of the ways might suit all parties”.
Indeed, the tough-tackling former Southampton enforcer has just two years remaining on his contract in north London, so the club are running out of time to cash in if they want to receive a decent fee for his services, assuming they do not plan to offer him an extension on his current deal.
It almost feels like a shame too, as despite the shortcomings of the team in general last season, Hojbjerg was certainly one of the more consistent performers, ranking highly for a number of midfield metrics and dubbed "invaluable" to the side by members of the media.
Indeed, compared with other players in his position across Europe’s top five leagues, the Spurs number five ranked in the 92nd percentile for pass completion, the 80th percentile for interceptions and even in the 70th percentile for non-penalty goals, providing impact on both sides of the ball.
The capture of Maddison will of course do plenty to offset any loss of end product that would result from selling one of the current midfielders, but there aren’t many in the squad who can provide the same sort of cover in front of the defence, as the Dane led the current midfield ranks in both clearances and interceptions across the 2022/23 campaign.
It seems a move to Bayern will be difficult for the player to turn down on a personal note, but it would feel like a risk to allow Hojbjerg to leave this summer.