An update has emerged on Tottenham Hotspur over a player who could be on their way out of the club ahead of the 2023/24 campaign…
What's the latest Tottenham transfer news?
According to the Daily Mail, Atletico Madrid have opened talks with Spurs over a potential deal to sign central midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg this summer.
The report claims that the two clubs are having discussions as the Spanish side are attempting to convince the Premier League team to part ways with their battler, as they are currently reluctant to sanction a transfer.
It is stated that the Denmark international is interested in making the switch to La Liga as they have Champions League football to offer him next season.
Who could replace Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg at Tottenham?
Ange Postecoglou could forget all about the former Bayern Munich enforcer by securing a deal to sign Fiorentina star Sofyan Amrabat before the end of the summer.
Tottenham were keen on signing the Morocco international in the January transfer window and have reportedly retained their interest throughout the year.
Fiorentina are reportedly demanding €30m (£26m) for the defensive midfielder and Daniel Levy must work with the Australian head coach to bring him to England as a replacement for Hojbjerg, should he move to Madrid in the coming weeks.
As you can see in the above graphic, as provided by Opta, the Danish dynamo excels at winning possession back and taking plenty of touches of the ball across the pitch in comparison to his positional peers.
This shows that he is a possession-based midfielder who is also excellent at breaking up opposition attacks to protect his own goal.
Meanwhile, Amrabat, who has been hailed as "criminally underrated" by journalist Muhammad Butt, is a similar type of number six as he is also impressive in those aspects of the game – as shown in the Opta chart below.
Their respective statistics from last season suggest that they are both defensively excellent midfielders, which means that Postecoglou would not be weakening his side from a defensive perspective by signing the Serie A star to line up in Hojbjerg's place next season.
However, the former Celtic boss could improve the quality of his team's play in possession by making this switch as Amrabat is exceptional at using his range of passing to progress the ball.
The 26-year-old titan has averaged 7.93 progressive passes per 90 over the last 365 days, which places him among the top 8% of players in his position in the Men's Big Five Leagues and European competitions in that time.
Whereas, Hojbjerg has completed 6.59 progressive passes per 90 during that period and does not crack the top 20% of midfielders in that statistic.
Therefore, Amrabat, who was described as an "absolute colossus" by Morocco by ex-England ace Stuart Pearce, could offer more in possession to find his teammates in better positions, as he is capable of progressing the ball more frequently than the former Southampton man.
These statistics indicate that Postecoglou could forget all about Hojbjerg in a swoop for the Fiorentina gem due to his outstanding ability in and out of possession, which would allow the manager to sanction an exit for the 27-year-old general.