As reported yesterday, Tottenham Hotspur are on the verge of signing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Southampton, with the Denmark international seemingly set to be the club’s first major summer acquisition.
The signing will be welcomed by the Spurs fans, with the 25-year-old adding steel and leadership to the North London club’s options in the centre of the park.
However, with Hojbjerg’s pending arrival, many Tottenham supporters’ gaze has shifted to the current squad and assessing if an existing midfielder could make way to facilitate the new man.
There have been rumblings and rumours around the future of Spurs record signing Tanguy Ndombele, who has been linked with a potential exit before next season.
The France international clearly did not have an ideal first season in the Premier League, with the former Lyon man struggling to build any momentum in the Tottenham team.
However, I believe that Daniel Levy will resist any overtures from other clubs to sign Ndomeble, especially given the sizeable fee Spurs paid to land the midfielder.
Losing money on the Frenchman will not be acceptable to the Tottenham chairman and it is hard to see another club spending £50+ million on a misfiring Ndombele this summer.
Despite his underwhelming start to life at Spurs, there were enough glimmers of hope at times to suggest the Frenchman can turn things around.
Ndomeble’s performance in the 2-2 draw away to Norwich in December 2019 alone was enough to suggest that Jose Mourinho could have a prodigious, game-changing midfielder in his ranks if the 23-year-old is fit and firing.
Hojbjerg anchoring the Tottenham midfield will unleash Giovani Lo Celso and it may well be that Ndombele is the other central midfielder in a 4-1-4-1 / 4-3-3 formation next season.
While rumours will persist, Spurs should keep the France international at the club and nurture him into the first-team fold – if Ndombele can get back to the form he showed at Lyon, he could become a critical player for Tottenham.