Tottenham are close to completing their first piece of business in the summer transfer window with a £15m deal agreed with Southampton for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. Football Insider believe the 25-year-old’s transfer may end up costing us more than £45m, however, due to his wages and add-ons.
How much are we paying Hojbjerg?
Approximately £100k-per-week until 2025, say Football Insider, so Hojbjerg will take home £5.2m-a-year. By the end of his contract, the Saints midfielder will have earned £27.5m, nearly double what was initially paid for him. Hojbjerg could also earn an extra £4m in performance-related bonuses, so he could pocket a total of £46.5m at Tottenham, excluding a signing-on-fee.
As per Spotrac, the Danish international’s salary trumps Toby Alderweireld (£80k-per-week/£4.16m-a-year), Erik Lamela (£80k-per-week/£4.16m-a-year) and Lucas Moura (£80k-per-week/£4.16m-a-year), and matches Dele Alli (£100k-per-week/£5.2m-a-year) and Hugo Lloris (£100k-per-week/£5.2m-a-year).
Why are Southampton willing to sell Hojbjerg?
The 25-year-old has made 134 appearances in all competitions since joining from Bayern Munich in 2016 and was club captain for two seasons. He’s been a regular under Ralph Hasenhuttl, impressing in midfield for the most part, so it seems odd that Southampton would let him go for little.
Football Insider revealed that Hojbjerg is in the last year of his deal at St Mary’s and rejected offers to renew his contract, so Southampton are left with little choice but to cash in early. The Dane has been public in his desire to leave and is believed to have fallen out with Hasenhuttl, so it suits all parties if he’s sold this summer.
What about our financial situation?
Missing out on the Champions League will see us lose out on a lot of money and the Covid-19 pandemic also led to us missing out on revenue for months. We were expected to run up losses of £200m from the start of the UK lockdown until June 2021 before Daniel Levy took out a £175m loan to ease the burden too.
Jose Mourinho hinted in June that we don’t have a lot of spending money this summer, despite our fervent need to strengthen at right-back, centre-back, midfield and attack, so bargain buys like Hojbjerg may be common.
Summary
Hojbjerg’s transfer fee is reasonable, but his wages will be costly over five years. It shows a lot of faith on our end, but we don’t want to be stuck with an underperforming high-earner if things go wrong. Time will tell.
In other news, Tottenham have been given a boost in their pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen’s star player