Lots of Everton fans are begging Director of Football Marcel Brands not to sign Carlo Ancelotti’s primary January target, after Gianluca Di Marzio linked the club with Southampton’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg while speaking on Sky Sports’ Transfer Centre (23/2, 21:08).
Ancelotti is said to be requesting Brands acquires midfield upgrades in the final week of the January window, and has placed Saints captain Hojbjerg at the top of his shortlist ahead of next Friday’s Deadline Day.
Hojbjerg has started 22 of his 23 Premier League appearances for the campaign so far, with Southampton head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl only leaving the 24-year-old on the bench as the south coast side lost 2-1 at home to Marco Silva’s Everton in November and as they lost 3-0 to Burnley on the opening day.
Hasenhuttl has only called on three Saints players to feature more often than Hojbjerg across all competitions since replacing Mark Hughes at St. Mary’s in December 2018, with the former RB Leipzig coach awarding Jan Bednarek 4,408 minutes of first-team football, James Ward-Prowse 4,383, Nathan Redmond 4,153 and Hojbjerg 3,966.
Given Hojbjerg’s pivotal role in Hasenhuttl’s plans, Southampton are alleged to have slapped a £35million asking price on the midfielder, which Everton are currently reluctant to meet.
Would you spend £35m to sign Hojbjerg this month?
Yes
No
Denmark international Hojbjerg has scored twice and assisted four goals under Hasenhuttl, of which only one of his assists have come this term and he is yet to score in 2019/20.
The 33-cap central midfielder has averaged 75.8 touches of the football per top-flight encounter this season, though, along with 44.5 accurate passes (77%), 1.1 key passes, 3.3 accurate long balls (44%), 1.3 successful dribbles (75%), 1.5 interceptions, 2.5 tackles won, and wins 4.9 ground duels (50%) and 1.8 aerial duels (56%), per Sofa Score statistics.
Here are some of the messages shared as fans reacted to Di Marzio touting Saints’ £50,000-per-week captain Hojbjerg as Ancelotti’s primary January target…
That’s worse than Iwobi
— matt w (@waggers78) January 23, 2020
Gotta be a wind up
— Cos Ancelotti is better than Mikel Arteta ♫ (@BlueDanEFC) January 23, 2020
Steer well clear
— andyjsb (@andyjsb) January 24, 2020
No chance
— Graeme McVeigh (@GraemeMcV) January 23, 2020
I mean I like Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, I think he’s a decent midfielder and he’s a decent captain for Southampton as well. But for £35M we can go out and find better value and add somebody who adds more creativity and goals to the team
— The USM Toffee Blues (@EvertonNewsFeed) January 23, 2020
He absolutely dreadful. Proper Walsh signing.
— Paul EFC 86 (@PaulEFC86) January 23, 2020
I refuse to believe that Carlo Ancelotti has this clown at the top of his transfer list for 35M
— Luke (@LukeAtMeNow23) January 23, 2020
No thanks he’s awful
— Adam Jones (@Adam_EFC_1998) January 23, 2020
He’s not that good really 🤦🏻♂️go get gana back
— John ( keysey) (@keysey1878) January 23, 2020
Jesus no thanks
— Yerald 🇨🇴 (@YeraldMina13) January 23, 2020
In other Everton news, the club have been linked with a potential January move for a long-term club target.