It is believed that another member of Ange Postecoglou’s squad “dreams” of joining one specific club, as doubts also continue to surround the future of Tottenham midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Hojbjerg could leave Spurs in January
The arrival of Postecoglou in the summer resulted in Hojbjerg being relegated to more of a squad player, with Tottenham’s new head coach appearing not to favour the Dane as much as his predecessors.
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He’s “making a lot of noise”.
Hojbjerg was a consistent regular and key player under both Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho, making 35 league appearances last season with all of them being full starts. Under Postecoglou this term, the 28-year-old has started just five matches, with Spurs’ boss preferring both Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr ahead of him when they’re available.
This has resulted in claims that Hojbjerg is open to leaving Tottenham in pursuit of more game time, and reliable transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano has backed that up.
“Hojbjerg changed agents recently, in September, because he wants to leave, he wants to go to another club,” said Romano on Kick late last month (via Spurs Web).
“But, for Tottenham, it has to be a permanent transfer or a loan with an obligation to buy. It has to be a guaranteed transfer or nothing.”
It will be interesting to see if Spurs can facilitate an exit for the former Southampton star, as there are other reports suggesting this could have an impact on the club’s next signing after Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin.
Postecoglou wants to add a new number eight to his Tottenham ranks, leading to interest in Chelsea star Conor Gallagher, but they may have to part company with Hojbjerg first. Spurs will also be eager to trim more surplus players after offloading the out-of-favour Eric Dier and Djed Spence on loan deals. Another player to be linked with a move away is young midfielder Bryan Gil.
Gil “dreams” of Sevilla return
According to Estadio Deportivo, Gil “dreams” of re-joining former club Sevilla while their La Liga rivals Real Sociedad push for a move.
The 22-year-old has made nine league appearances under Postecoglou this season, but only two have been starts. While he’d like to fight for his place at Spurs, he doesn’t view a move to Sociedad as a bad option, as he’s tired of being loaned out, and it is believed they’d want him permanently.
Sevilla are his preferred option, and an exit isn’t entirely ruled out for the Spaniard before Jan 31. However, due to the price demanded by Spurs for Gil, the aformentioned club are seen as a “practically impossible” destination for him.
Former Spurs boss Conte, despite barely picking Gil himself, did revere some of his qualities – namely the playser’s pace and a real in-game intelligence.
“It was really important, you know about Bryan Gil we are talking about a player who was born to play football,” said Conte in 2023.
“He understands football quickly. He’s so clever, so intelligent to understand the situation. Then you know this league is difficult, because you have to be good in quality and be fast and to have good endurance, and he has this type of quality.”