It was that same motivation that led to Højbjerg making the choice to leave Bayern and move to Southampton last summer. “It's like when I was small,” he says. “I could be there, I could be in maybe one of the best teams in the world, I could be in the team photo and all the posters and make autographs and say 'I'm a Bayern Munich player' but would I be happy with that? No. I know I wouldn't be happy with that. “I was not happy to just be a part of it. I was not happy just to be in the biggest club in the world, with a fantastic coach, with fantastic people around it. As much as I loved Bayern Munich, as much as I felt at home, you need to leave home to grow up.” “I came to Southampton because I spoke to the people there and I felt immediately captivated by it,” he says. “I remember calling my agent in the morning, and I said ‘I spoke with the coach, I spoke with some people and it needs to be this. Forget everything else, I will go tomorrow to Southampton.’ “It’s like a flower that is about to blossom. I saw so much potential in the club that I said ‘Ok, this is the right place for me.’ I also said to people, ‘I don't go to Southampton to make the next step to a bigger club.’ This is not the reason I'm here. I go to Southampton to make Southampton go to the next level. “I know that I will not do it alone and I will not do it just me, but I can be a part of it and I believe that I can be in the team where we change things to something better.” https://southamptonfc.com/news/2016-12-25/pierre-emile-hojbjerg-saints-magazine-feature Just a short part from his long interview. It's worth a read.
Happy Christmas Pierre. Avoid Saintsweb, and probably this place too following any disappointing results.
The criticism he gets sometimes is a little unfair. Too many fans seem to feel the need to criticise every miss-placed pass. The young lad clearly has bags of ability, a good football brain and a maturity beyond his years. He's going to be a fabulous footballer, but amazingly he doesn't seem to have walked on to our hallowed turf and become Lothar Mattheus overnight.
If a player was faultless and brilliant every match, he wouldn't be here and would cost 80 mill. Talented but still learning is what we will get. Puel has very good reasons for rotating all the time and this will be probably be vindicated by May, but it does make it hard for players like Pierre who need a run in the team.
Love the fact that his dad was a doctor of anthropology. Had an interest in studying that myself at one point. His mum was French I believe. The romantic in me wonders how they met! I really like the lad. He's a nice player to watch. He has that level of technical ability that makes football (for me) such a beautiful game to watch at times. Want him to get his goal. He's a passionate and it would be good to see him celebrate.
1st half v Bournemouth was the poorest I had seen him play. He seemed out of sorts and struggled to get going. He grew into the game through, didn't hide or shirk a challenge. Showing signs of becoming a very good player. Liking his attitude too. Good lad.
Doubt it ... I assumed it was just rotation. Not the first time a player has randomly disapeared out the matchday squad this season.
Højbjerg is still very young but he has enormous potential which he will realise with the right coaching and encouragement.
