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Is Hojbjerg answer for Everton

By Matt Townsend

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace is tackled by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of Southampton during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Southampton FC at Selhurst Park on January 21, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 21: Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace is tackled by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of Southampton during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Southampton FC at Selhurst Park on January 21, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) /
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There is just over a week left in the January transfer window and with the days counting down, the latest stories on the endless rumour mill, have Everton considering a bid for Southampton midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

The Danish international is just the latest midfield player to be linked with a transfer to Everton as the next solution to the Blues problems in the middle of the park.

Apparently the Toffees are now contemplating a move for the Saints captain and the Liverpool Echo claim that the south coast club want around £35 million to sell him in this window.

Hojbjerg has been in excellent form this season and is a key reason why Southampton have recovered from a bad start to the campaign that culminated in that humiliating 0-9 home defeat to Leicester City at St Mary’s back in September.

Since that time the Saints have managed to steady the ship, been on a decent run of form recently and are now sitting comfortably in mid-table, a place above Everton.

So given all that, it seems a little unlikely they would consider parting with their midfield dynamo and club captain mid-season, even for that sort of sum. Although he is out of contract in the summer and so Southampton might just be tempted to cash in now.

And while he is a strong defensive linchpin, Hojbjerg doesn’t seem to offer much in attack and would presumably be considered purely as emergency additional protection in front of the Toffees notoriously erratic and leaky defence.

This neatly brings us to another defensive central midfield candidate who has been mooted recently for a move to Goodison Park; Napoli midfielder Allan.

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Again the Echo are running a story that Napoli have now named their price and are prepared to sell the Brazilian star for around £42 million this month.

The article claims that the player wants out of the Italian club and is keen to be reunited with his former boss Carlo Ancelotti.

Allan would seem a better option as he is the superior player and offers more offensively too. But on the downside he is 29 and Hojbjerg is only 24, making him perhaps a better bet in terms of transfer sell-on, an important ongoing consideration for Marcel Brands.

Anyway as usual there is probably little if any substance in these rumoured transfers. Again, after all this seemingly endless speculation, the Blues will probably end up signing nobody else or true to form, make a last-ditch effort to get a body in on deadline day!

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