Jose Mourinho has admitted that he had been monitoring Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for some time before bringing him to North London.
Sky Sports reported in January that Tottenham were keen to bring the Danish international to the club with Arsenal and Everton also said to have been keen.
The 25-year-old became Tottenham’s first signing of the summer after weeks of negotiations when Southampton sanctioned his sale for £15million with the midfielder having just a year to run on his contract at St Mary’s (Standard).
Mourinho admitted that Hojbjerg’s contract situation made him an attractive transfer target along with his previous experience of playing in the English top flight.
The Portuguese lost two holding midfielders last season following the departure of Victor Wanyama to Montreal Impact along with Eric Dier’s positional change to the heart of the Spurs defence.
After putting pen to paper on a five-year deal, Hojbjerg admitted that he could see himself at Spurs for many years to come (Spurs official).
Mourinho told CBS Sports: “Pierre is a player we have followed. We have followed him for quite a long time and the fact he had just a year on his contract gave us a good position to negotiate for him with Southampton.
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“He is a very strong midfielder with good knowhow of what the Premier League is.
“To play a few years with Bayern Munich also gave him the knowhow of responsibilities to play for clubs with big ambitions.
“And we know this season is going to be absolutely crazy in terms of numbers of matches. The fixtures will be very condensed and we needed an extra man in our midfield options.
“We are very happy with Pierre coming to join us.”
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