Former Premier League centre-back Alex Bruce has backed a potential part-exchange deal for Tottenham Hotspur defender and Southampton midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
The Denmark international has been heavily linked with a move to north London in recent months and could be on his way out of St Mary’s when the 2019/20 draws to a close.
The Sunday Mirror (page 64, 24/05) previously reported that the Saints may have to sell a number of player to financially combat the absence of the Premier League, following the suspension of all elite football in the UK.
Walker-Peters is currently on loan from Spurs at Southampton and has showcased a string of good performances, with Football Insider reporting that Jose Mourinho’s side could offer the 23-year-old in exchange for Hojbjerg.
Bruce supported the report and believes that both sides will benefit from the resulting deal.
Should Kyle Walker-Peters and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg switch places?
Yes
No
Bruce told Football Insider: “I like Hojbjerg, he’s competitive, he’s a combative midfielder and that would obviously help Tottenham so he’d be a good one for them.
“The coaches at Spurs and that will know what they’ve got and sometimes they can be a little bit of traffic on the old motorway and you can’t find your way into the team because it clogged up.
“If he (Walker-Peters) can go to another Premier League team, get his game time, that will be beneficial to him as well because he’s definitely a prospect.”
As the club captain, Hojbjerg has become one of Southampton’s most important players. When moving to a new club, there is always the danger that a player can get lose their influence in an entirely new dressing room.
The best example of this was when Gylfi Sigurdsson moved to Tottenham from Hoffenheim in 2012, following a highly impressive loan spell at Swansea City the season before. He had a disastrous spell but returned to South Wales to shine once more. There is a grave danger that Hojbjerg could fall into a comparable proverbial mouse trap.
After playing just four games for Southampton, it is too early to jump to conclusions about Walker-Peters. Once he has a vast amount of minutes under his belt in the red and white shirt, an appropriate verdict can be made. At this point in time, it is a deal that would only benefit Tottenham, and Mourinho knows it.
