Manchester United are exploring a deal to sign Tottenham midfielder and Denmark international Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the closing week of the summer transfer window

Earlier this summer, Spurs had agreed a £30million deal to sell Hojbjerg to Atletico Madrid but the deal collapsed as personal terms could not be agreed. All parties are believed to be open to a deal this week should agreement be found on a transfer fee.

Hojbjerg spent the first half of his career in Germany at Bayern, with loan spells at Augsburg and Schalke, before joining Southampton in 2016 – where he was a key player across four seasons. He was then signed by Mourinho at Tottenham, where he has made 146 first-team appearances.

“Pierre is, first of all, very intelligent. He reads the game very well. He’s going to be a coach one day, for sure,” Mourinho explained in a press conference in 2020, when explaining his virtues as a holding midfielder.

The Portuguese boss then admitted: “He’s a pain, asking questions about why we do this and why we do that. On the pitch, he reads the situation very, very well and the people that surround him are really compact, they read the game.

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“Physically he’s very, very strong and technically he’s much better than people think. Because sometimes people think the guy that is good technically is the guy that does the backheel. The guy that is good technically is the guy that does something wonderful. But these are not my words. These are words from coaches of 30, 40 years ago.”

Mourinho concluded: “Simplicity is genius. And the guy is so simple in everything he does with the ball. And I think he’s a phenomenal player. Congratulations, Mr. [Daniel] Levy [Spurs chairman].”

Hojbjerg – a key player under Mourinho and Antonio Conte – has been afforded just two substitute appearances by new Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou. The Dane is open to pastures new this summer and now a move to Old Trafford may be on the cards.

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