Earlier this month, Southampton made Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg their second signing of the summer following the arrival of Nathan Redmond from Norwich. The 20-year-old joins from Bayern Munich for an undisclosed fee, reportedly worth £12 million, and has penned a five-year contract at St Mary’s.
Discussing his move with the club’s official website, Hojbjerg revealed talks with new Saints boss Claude Puel helped make the decision to join Southampton an easy one:
“I spoke with the manager and it was very positive in his way of analysing my style and the club. Also, his style was very clear and I like that. I like it when somebody has a style that they are clear about and they know what they want as it’s easier to follow and be part of.”
The History
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Hojbjerg started his youth career at BK Skjold and F.C Copenhagen, before joining up with Brondby at the age of 14.
Having been named Danish Under 17 Player of the Year in 2011, the midfielder joined Bayern Munich a year later, and after making his debut for the second team in 2012, was handed his professional debut as a substitute against FC Nurnberg in April 2013. He finished the 2012/13 campaign having made two league appearances, while he scored eight goals and registered one assist in 30 matches for the reserves.
Hojbjerg made seven Bundesliga appearances in 2013/14, claiming one assist, while he played 14 times for the reserves, scoring four goals and providing a single assist.
In order to gain more first-team experience, Hojbjerg was sent out on loan to fellow Bundesliga side FC Augsburg in January 2015. The Dane made 16 appearances in all competitions, scoring twice and supplying three assists.
Last season, the midfielder joined Schalke 04 on a season-long loan. After initially struggling to command a regular starting berth, he chalked up 30 appearances in all competitions, claiming two assists.
After representing his country at every youth level from Under 16 to Under 21, scoring 12 goals in 38 appearances, Hojbjerg made his senior debut against Sweden in May 2014. He has played 16 times for Denmark and has scored one goal.
The Prospects
During pre-season so far, Puel has mainly utilised a midfield diamond and has occasionally trialled a 4-3-3 – in either set-up, Hojbjerg looks likely to be stationed in a defensive midfield role following the departure of Victor Wanyama to Tottenham.
The Danish international has sometimes played further forward during his career, though, and could play on the side of a diamond, with neither Jordy Clasie or Oriol Romeu offering any real threat.
Standing at 6ft 1in, Højbjerg offers a strong presence in the middle of the park, and has good technical ability in terms of his passing, dribbling and finishing, particularly from long range. His positioning as a defensive midfield player is also impressive, and he registered an interception every 24 minutes for Schalke last season, better than Clasie (27.8), Wanyama (38) and Romeu (43.1). Of all four players, Romeu led the way for successful tackles last term with one every 30.2 minutes, ahead of Wanyama (36.2), Hojbjerg (38.6) and Clasie (42.9).
Hojbjerg certainly looks capable of filling the void left by Wanyama, then, and while he hardly carries a significant attacking threat, he did average a shot every 57.9 minutes last season, better than Romeu (61.6), Wanyama (84.5) and Clasie (113.4).
The former Bayern midfielder only managed a key pass every 182 minutes last term, though, mainly due to featuring in a deep-lying midfield position. Nonetheless, an 87.4% successful pass rate is indicative of his excellent distribution.
While a defensive midfield player wouldn’t normally be of huge interest for Fantasy managers, Hojbjerg’s price of 4.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) has brought him firmly onto our radars, with the Dane currently sat in 4.1% of squads.
He’s currently only second to West Brom’s Darren Fletcher (14.4%) for ownership in FPL among 4.5-priced midfielders, and, having impressed on his first start against FC Twente, could well establish a regular starting role at St Mary’s.
He’ll be competing with the likes of Clasie and Romeu for a place in Puel’s XI, while Steven Davis and James Ward-Prowse are slightly more attack-minded midfield players who could operate on the sides of a diamond.
Hojbjerg was on the bench for today’s friendly with FC Groningen and introduced at half-time. Both Clasie and Romeu were handed starts in the Saints’ engine room, with Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond also in the starting XI.
The Saints’ opening fixtures offer up some plum home ties (WAT, SUN, SWA, BUR) over the opening eight Gameweeks, though there’s no doubt that Dusan Tadic (7.5) and, to a lesser extent, Redmond (6.0) have a greater potential for attacking hauls.
Going on his output so far, Hojbjerg looks best utilised as a bench-warner initially until we get an idea of Southampton’s Fantasy prospects under their new manager. The youngest player ever to represent Bayern in the Bundesliga, there’s no denying the new boy has a touch of class and if Puel affords him the platform to flourish, we’ll be keeping a keen eye on his potential as the campaign unfolds.
Further Reference
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg Wikipedia
