‘Fantastic’: Jamie O’Hara suggests Tottenham should have signed Everton ace instead

Follow us on Google Discover

New Tottenham signing Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is “average” and was comfortably outshone by Everton enforcer Allan during Sunday’s Premier League opener, former Spurs ace Jamie O’Hara has told talkSPORT (15 September, 8.40am).

On his first appearance for the club after joining from Southampton in a £15 million deal, it’s fair to say the Denmark international didn’t look like the cure to Tottenham’s midfield woes.

Hojbjerg, the former Saints skipper, spent much of the game chasing shadows as Jose Mourinho’s increasingly insipid side were out-thought and out-fought by a hungry Everton team, which sealed a well-deserved 1-0 win thanks to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s towering second-half header.

Just to season the wounds a little more, Hojbjerg was shown up by Everton’s own midfield debutant – the tenacious and technically gifted Allan.

“The two brand new Everton midfielders, they had never played together but they were fantastic, they were organised,” an exasperated O’Hara bemoaned.

“Allan, the lad from Napoli, was fantastic. How can they sign a player like Allan and Spurs sign Hojbjerg? I’m thinking ‘come on!’

“I look to the starting XI and think ‘the 2008 team I played in was way better!’ We had Berbatov, Lennon, Keane, Modric. I look at the team now and think ‘are you winding me up?’”

Everton were made to wait for Allan, with Ancelotti spending most of the summer months chasing a man who caught his eye during the Italian’s all-too-short spell in charge of Italian giants Napoli.

Snapping into challenges, shielding an erratic back line and starting attacks of his own with piercing, probing passes, Allan’s opening-day display suggests he could be worth every penny of his £21 million price tag.

Everton look to have found their new Idrissa Gana Gueye at last.