Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has insisted that he is determined to end Tottenham’s trophy drought over the coming years.
Although Hojbjerg is only 26 years of age, he has more experience at the top level than many players who are much older.
That is because the Denmark international made his senior debut for Bayern Munich back when he was just a teenager.
Hojbjerg has admitted that his formative years in Bavaria, where he played with some big names, were key to shaping him into the kind of person he is.
The Spurs midfielder told The Daily Mail: “I call Bayern a school of champions. You get the best education, the A+ students stay and the A students have to go somewhere else.
“I signed for them 10 years ago. The plan was to get to the first team in my third year but they had 11 players at Euro 2012 so I went straight off youth football in Denmark into first-team training.
“It went OK so the manager Jupp Heynckes said: ‘I want to keep the kid with me’. I had to be patient after that, it took eight months to get on the bench, but in my stomach, there was this little fight to be involved.
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“Guardiola came in my second year. He taught me positioning, how to analyse the game. I was eating right off it. I couldn’t get enough. My first Champions League game was against Roma. I started at Manchester City, facing Frank Lampard in midfield.
“I learned about hunger for trophies. I was lucky to share a dressing room with Bastian Schweinsteiger, Daniel van Buyten, the captain of Belgium, Neuer, fantastic personality, Mario Mandzukic, nasty fella but there when you need him.
“On match day, the moment they were in the huddle you knew they would give every centimetre for each other. They had this trust between them and a cold determination to win.”
Spurs have not tasted any silverware since their league cup win in 2008 but Hojbjerg declared that he is not concerned about history. He insisted that he wants to fight to help the club challenge and win major honours over the coming years.
He said: “I want to try and play for the big titles. I’m not scared to say when you go to Tottenham, people might not expect you to win things because of recent history.
“I fully understand that but really want to change the cycle. Also, for my own career, my ambition, I want to fight.
“You don’t associate my style with big headlines but my contribution is for the team. One thing I know I can do is compete with anyone because it’s in my blood. I like to push everyone, starting with myself, to the limit.”
Hojbjerg also spoke about his admiration of some of his opponents, naming Fernandinho as a player he admires despite the pair having some unsavoury battles on the pitch.
He said: “My second red card in the Premier League was for a foul against Fernandinho when I played at Southampton. Then the first game of this season, for Spurs against City, Fernandinho gets to a loose ball first and goes through me with his follow-up.
“I yelled at the ref ‘If I’d planted my foot, he was going to f***ing break my leg’. And Fernandinho comes past telling me: ‘Yeah, remember a couple of years ago, you did it to me’. When I calmed down, I just thought ‘I love this guy!'”.
Spurs Web Opinion
I am not surprised to see that Conte has taken to Hojbjerg as the pair of them have a very similar mentality. That is one of the reasons why I do not see the Italian letting the 26-year-old leave the club this summer even if he wants to upgrade on his central midfield options.
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