AS Roma will have to fork out at least £25 million to secure the services of Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the summer transfer window.
According to Football Insider, former Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho is interested in signing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for AS Roma. The Giallorossi continue to keep a close track of the situation around the Denmark international and plan to make a formal approach in the summer should Mourinho remain in charge at Stadio Olimpico.
Despite recording the highest net transfer spend on new signings in Serie A last summer, the Giallorossi find themselves eight in the league table, with a battle on their hands to secure a top-four finish. Central midfield has been identified as one of the areas in desperate need of improvement by Mourinho at Roma, having admitted that he presently lacks a player who can dictate the game’s flow.
The Rome-based outfit spent most of the summer window chasing after Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, but no deal came to fruition. Now, they have turned their attention towards Tottenham enforcer Hojbjerg, who could be made available in the summer should Antonio Conte decide to bring in fresh faces to revamp Spurs’ midfield to his liking.
Formerly of Bayern Munich, Hojbjerg joined Tottenham from Southampton for a fee of around £15 million in the summer of 2020. It proved to be a shrewd piece of business, as the 26-year-old went on to establish himself as a key member of the Spurs squad and went on to play every minute of the 2020/21 Premier League season.
To date, the Dane has made 85 appearances for the North London outfit, chipping in with five goals and eight assists in the process. Despite the departure of Portuguese coach, Hojbjerg has remained an ever-present figure at the club and has impressed in his 21 Premier League appearances so far this season.
However, in recent weeks, he has been rotated heavily by Conte for Oliver Skipp and Harry Winks. He is no longer a guaranteed starter following the January arrival of Rodrigo Bentacur, who operates in a similar position, raising even more questions about his long-term Tottenham future.
Roma tried to address the midfield issues last month by bringing in Sergio Oliveira and Arsenal loanee Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Mourinho has utilised Maitland-Niles as a wing-back and Oliveira in a box-to-box capacity. But neither of them is a holding midfielder, which has forced him to deploy Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the lynchpin role recently, who himself is out of contract in the summer.
Even if Roma retain both Maitland-Niles and Oliveira permanently, they will still need a holding midfielder who can shield the backline as well as operate as a midfield facilitator. To that end, getting a deal over the line for someone of Hojbjerg’s pedigree and leadership qualities would be another ambitious move from the Roma hierarchy.
The 26-year-old is under contract at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium until 2025 and is valued at around the £25 million mark by Tottenham. However, his wages could be a stumbling block for the Serie A outfit. Whether Roma match the Lilywhites’ asking price to secure the Danish international’s signatures in the summer remains to be seen.