Atletico Madrid’s CEO has confirmed that the ‘idea’ is to sign a midfielder this month amid reports suggesting Tottenham Hotspur’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg could swap the Premier League for La Liga.
Earlier this week, Atletico’s long-serving head coach Diego Simeone admitted that he wanted another deep-lying enforcer to partner Koke and add some horsepower to the Colchoneros engine.
Some 48 hours later, Miguel Angel Gil made similar comments to the club’s official website.
Reports linking Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg with a late-summer departure from Tottenham continue to swirl – Harry Kane is not the only Spurs player facing an uncertain future this month – and the very public admissions of both Simeone and Gil will have done nothing to quell the speculation.
Hojbjerg could leave Tottenham for Atletico Madrid
“I think we have a good team. This team, improved by the additions that we have made in defence, will compete with everyone, as it has been doing for many years,” Gil insists.
“Our idea is to sign a midfielder who reinforces this area of the field, as well as complete the sales of at least two players that allow us to sign that midfielder and balance our squad cost within the financial controls of LaLiga.”
Hojbjerg has been one of the first names on the Tottenham team sheet since his £15 million move from Southampton during Jose Mourinho’s tenure.
There are, however, doubts about whether Ange Postecoglou – a far more proactive, attack-minded tactician than Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo or Antonio Conte – would prefer a more natural ball-player in Hojbjerg’s position, Yves Bissouma making quite the impression in pre-season.
Former Denmark international Morten Bruun is not concerned, however. Hojbjerg, he says, will remain an integral piece of the jigsaw wherever he ends up.
“The Tottenham coaches have always looked Pierre-Emile’s way. In many ways, he is every coach’s dream with his effort and work-rate,” Bruun tells TV2.
“So (whether he stays or goes) also depends on what he himself wants. Whether he wants to try his hand in another league.”
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