Martin Keown has admitted that he wanted Arsenal to sign Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, as he told Football Focus.
The Arsenal legend added ‘I like his style’ and shared how Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is a player with ‘good technical ability’ and someone who is ‘growing in confidence’ in a Tottenham shirt.
During the summer transfer window of 2020, with Hojbjerg’s contract at Southampton running down, Jose Mourinho brought the hard-hitting midfielder to north London.
A couple of months later, Arsenal, who had just come through a very struggling season under Mikel Arteta, brought their own defensive brain to the club in Thomas Partey.
Since then, both have had very big impacts on their respective teams, possibly becoming irreplaceable and they have also been consistent starters when fit and available.
But when speaking about Hojbjerg’s rise as a footballer, from that fresh-faced teenager at Bayern Munich to a key member of Antonio Conte’s Tottenham side, ex-Gunner Keown admitted that he wouldn’t have minded if he opted to don the Arsenal colours.
“I wanted him at Arsenal because I like his style,” said Keown. “I like what he brings. Okay, he’s part of a very workman-like team, with Richarlison and Kulusevski not available.
“When you are watching Spurs. It’s not a fantastic watch, but they grind out results. But he’s very much a part of what they do. That hard work in that team. You can see that his game now is to the level it was when he was a young man in the Bayern Munich team.
“He has good technical ability. I think he is growing in confidence.”
HOJBJERG IS AN UNDERRATED FIGURE
At 27, Hojbjerg is a key member of Tottenham’s midfield and someone, both Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, admire greatly.
It says a lot when two managers of that stature consistently use you and it’s a credit to the midfielder’s rise in recent years.
The biggest compliment to the Denmark international is that, when he’s not playing for Tottenham, that’s when his presence is hugely missed.
Whilst Conte doesn’t provide him with the freedom to roam forward because he plays in a two-man midfield, he still has managed to score three goals from 12 Premier League games this season.
