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Saints Sign Hojbjerg ! But Is He Schneiderlin Or Wanyama ?

Saints have announced the signing of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Bayern Munich, but Saints fans are asking the question of just who he is replacing in the Saints squad.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is a Saints type of signing, he is young, has plenty of ability the potential to improve, but has yet to really make his mark at the highest level.

This is the quality of player that Saints look for these days, they do not try to compete with the top clubs for the truly established players, they look for the potential and over the past couple of years this has paid dividends.

Saints fans on social media have been quick to suggest that from their sightings of him during his loan spell with Schalke last season he is more akin to Morgan Schneiderlin with the ability to read the game and win the ball through that, than the more brute force of Victor Wanyama.

I saw Hojbjerg play for Schalke back in March at Hertha Berlin in a 2-0 defeat, I have to say I did not really notice Hojbjerg, but the Schalke side appeared to be comfortable on the ball and able to break up Hertha's attacks well.

The arrival of Hojbjerg 0n the back of Nathan Redmond shows that the club has it's potential transfer targets well and truly mapped out and identified, so far there have been three big departures for a total income in transfer fees of around £59 million with another £5 million on top of that for Koeman.

Our two signings so far this summer have cost around £22 million, so we still have a fair amount still in the pot.


Executive Director of Football Les Reed said: "Pierre is an exciting young talent, who we are delighted to welcome to Southampton Football Club.

"At the age of just 20, he is already an established international player with Denmark and has gained significant and valuable experience while at Bayern Munich and in the Bundesliga.

"Pierre boasts an impressive pedigree, as well as a great deal of potential, and it is testament to our reputation that he has chosen Southampton ahead of other suitors as the next step in his career.

"We believe the club will be an ideal place for Pierre to continue his progression and that he will be an excellent addition to our squad.

"We now have the perfect blend of positional strength, experience and dynamic youth in our midfield slots. There will be healthy competition, but also the required depth and robustness for our challenge in the Europa League.

"I believe as a group we probably have a choice from the best pool of midfield options in the Premier League.”

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg said: "I’m very pleased. It’s a big opportunity for me. I look forward to giving what I have and what I can to the club. They have put trust in me and I want to show them that they are not wrong.

"When I heard that Southampton came in for me I said to my people that this is what I want to do because I can see myself at Southampton, as it’s the way I like to think, the way I like to play and it fits me really well.

"I hope I can come here also and be a part of the Southampton family and give what I have to fight for the club and fight for my teammates.”

With thanks to Southampton Football Club for pictures and quotations.

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