Report: Tottenham, Southampton close to deals for Hojbjerg, Walker-Peters

According to one English newspaper, we may be seeing an addition to Tottenham Hotspur’s first team sooner rather than later. The Telegraph is reporting that a deal is nearly done that would bring long-time Spurs target and Southampton central midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to Spurs for £15m.

That’s a pretty good price in and of itself, but this would be balanced by another, separate deal that would send fullback Kyle Walker-Peters the other way for £12m. It’s not a swap deal, since those rarely happen in English football these days, but in practical terms means that Spurs will get their primary summer transfer target for a net price of just £3m.

If this is accurate and the deal goes through as reported here, it would represent a pretty fantastic piece of business for Spurs. They are able to offload one of their academy graduates that they clearly were not planning to use to a club for a player that patches a pretty significant hole in their side, and they keep their net costs practically even. Southampton get a young English fullback who was there on loan this spring and whom the fans and Ralph Hassenhuttl clearly like.

Hojbjerg has looked extremely likely to make the switch to Spurs for weeks now, but this is the strongest indication yet that we’ll get photos of him holding up a Tottenham kit in the near future. The Telegraph indicates that a deal could be announced “in the coming days.”

This also has ramifications for Tottenham’s right back position. If the rumors of interest for Serge Aurier by AC Milan are also accurate, you’d have to think it means that Spurs will be investing in at least one fullback before all is said and done this summer... otherwise why sell Aurier’s natural replacement in the side?

As always, keep your powder dry until we get the official announcement. But if these rumors play out, I think we’d have to consider it a win for everyone involved.