As many will know I hate the trend for fan websites to put up stories just rehashing tweets and instagram posts, the will he won't he Pierre Emile Hojbjerg transfer saga is therefore particularly annoying here we take a look at what "these Spurs fans" think.
Saints supporters are split on whether Saints should take the money and run on Pierre Emile Hojbjerg, my personal view is I would like him to sign a new deal and stay, but I don't rate him that highly that I think he should be labelled "Spurs number 1 transfer target".
In fact if I was a supporter of the North London club I would be quite worried that my club, who supposedly harbour ambitions to win the Premier League claim their best buy this summer will be a midfielder from Saints, I would be even more worried that Saints supporters would paraphrase John Lennon when asked the question "Is Hojbjerg the best midfielder in the Premier League ? they would reply "He isn't even the best midfielder at Southampton"
But this is a transfer saga of the modern age, it is conducted in public with the attendant rumours put out on Twitter and instagram to stir up the situation and also to try and convince the fans that he is the new messiah, something that it seems has been managed very well if you take the much salivating that has been going on in Hertfordshire in the past few months.
I have seen more stories with the headline "These Spurs Fans Think......" in praise of Hojbjerg than I have had hot dinners, the real irony is that I think at the start of the season, most would have been unable to tell you anything about him let alone rave about him in revered tones.
Hojbjerg's social media actions seem to be eagerly awaited by Spurs supporters who hand on every word and try to make every comment or like a sign that he is desperate to sign for Spurs.
He’s liked a post from another sports website which has said that Tottenham are interested in him, that is a sign !
He’s also shared something on Instagram stories about ‘If only they had stayed Southampton XI’ that included himself in it.” That is an even clearer sign.
He's put a picture of himself up with a Labrador in it, Mourinho once stroked a Labrador so that is an even clearer sign.
The list of "These Spurs fans " gets longer by the day my personal favourites include.
Hojbjerg was spotted in the Chicken section of Asda, a clear sign that he is fond of poultry and of course Spurs have a Chicken as their crest so he clearly wants to join.
Hojbjerg tweets "Always start the day with a smile" in St Albans this was acclaimed as a clear sign he was on his way to Spurs as he had a training ground in the background and Spurs of course have a training ground themselves.
Another Spurs fan replied "See you soon big man" that made me chuckle the Dame is hardly that tall or big for that matter.
Yet another begged him join saying that Spurs training ground Hotspur Way is way better than Saints training ground, i liked this one as down here Southampton Way is how we do things, not a road !
Hojbjerg is pictured raising two fingers in his hand (Not in an offensive manner) this is a clear allusion to the fact that Spurs won two league titles, the last 60 years ago, Hojbjerg is signalling to the Spurs faithful that he is coming to North London to make it three thus equalling Huddersfield, I fully expect that his next pic will see him in the bath and that showing all his fingers and toes signifies that he is counting down to when Spurs equal Man Utd's number of title wins.
Of course all this is good fun and should not be taken too seriously, once upon a time football was a fun game where social media did not exist and some supporters did not hang on every word a player tweeted or instagrammed, if that is the right phrase.
We used to laugh at ourselves, transfers just happened there wasn't a six month debate on social media before and a three month one after, if this transfer happens I suspect that there will be a lot of laughter, mainly when those involved in negotiating the transfer look at their bank balances.
Perhaps the tweet that we should note and remember is Hojbjerg liking a list of players that should have stayed at Southampton, of course this invokes the old Titanic joke, but the reality is that over the past few years we have sold many players for big money, some like Sadio Mane have blossomed, but the fact is that many of them perhaps wished that they had stayed at St Mary's as their career never really hit the heights it should have at their new clubs, Calum Chambers joined Arsenal, in 6 years he has started 43 Premier League games, Morgan Schneiderlin left in 2015, Clyne, Wanyama, Rodriguez, Lambert, Pelle, Fonte, Lovren, all went thinking the grass would be greener elsewhere at a so called bigger club, all found to varying degrees that it wasn't, even Luke Shaw saw his career change from being the acknowledged left back for England for years to come to relative obscurity and it wasn't until this his sixth season at Old Trafford that he overtook the number of Premier League games he started at Saints in two.
The transfer fee being bandied about for Hojbjerg is £35 million, I doubt that it will be that, for one thing Spurs are widely reported as not having the money, hence they are trying to force Kyle Walker-Peters on to us to cover a chunk of the fee.
I think even the most ardent of PEH's admirers in the Southampton supporter base would snatch Spurs or indeed any other clubs hand's off at that price.
The social media posts from "These Spurs fans" has a little desperation in them, they seem desperate to think that Spurs can spend big and they are desperate for that signing to be worth that big money, therefore they are almost trying to convince themselves that he is worth the money.
Pierre Emile Hojbjerg is a good honest professional who like any other has ambition, he will do well wherever he goes, but how well he does is relative to the price paid.