Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

Pierre-Emile Kordt Højbjerg (born 5 August 1995) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Denmark national team.

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg
Højbjerg with Tottenham Hotspur in 2022
Personal information
Full name Pierre-Emile Kordt Højbjerg[1]
Date of birth (1995-08-05) 5 August 1995[2]
Place of birth Copenhagen, Denmark
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[2]
Position(s) Central midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Tottenham Hotspur
Number 5
Youth career
2003–2007 BK Skjold
2007–2009 KB
2009–2012 Brøndby IF
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2014 Bayern Munich II 44 (12)
2013–2016 Bayern Munich 17 (0)
2015 → FC Augsburg (loan) 16 (2)
2015–2016 → Schalke 04 (loan) 23 (0)
2016–2020 Southampton 109 (4)
2020– Tottenham Hotspur 117 (8)
International career‡
2010–2011 Denmark U16 6 (0)
2011–2012 Denmark U17 18 (5)
2012–2013 Denmark U19 6 (3)
2013–2015 Denmark U21 8 (4)
2014– Denmark 71 (7)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 04:30, 24 October 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10:15, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

Højbjerg started his career as a youth for Danish clubs BK Skjold, Kjøbenhavns Boldklub and Brøndby IF before joining German club Bayern Munich in 2012. He made his senior debut for the reserves that year and his professional debut for the first team in April 2013; at 17 he was the club's youngest player in the Bundesliga. He made 25 total appearances for Bayern and won a variety of domestic and international tournaments, also having loans at fellow league teams FC Augsburg and Schalke 04. In 2016, he signed a five-year contract for Southampton for an estimated £12.8 million fee. After making 134 appearances for the Saints, he joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2020 for a reported initial fee of £15 million.

Højbjerg was a youth international at various levels from under-16 to under-21. He made his debut for the Denmark national team in 2014, and represented the side at UEFA Euro 2020 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Early career

While initially playing for BK Skjold and Kjøbenhavns Boldklub he moved to Brøndby IF as a junior player at age 14.[3] He looks upon Zinedine Zidane as his role model.[4] Aged just 5, Højbjerg began attending training sessions with his six-year-old brother at local club Skjold. He was deployed as a striker by Copenhagen. Starting from his debut, Højbjerg plays as a central midfielder and sometimes right wide midfielder. He has since switched to a defensive midfield role.

In 2011, Højbjerg was honoured with the title "Danish under-17 player of the year".[5] In 2013, he was honoured with the title "Danish talent of the year" by Spillerforeningen.[6]

Bayern Munich
Højbjerg after winning the 2014 DFB-Pokal Final with Bayern Munich

Højbjerg joined Bayern in July 2012[7] and, at the age of 17 years and 251 days,[8] made his professional debut on 13 April 2013[8] in the Bundesliga against 1. FC Nürnberg,[9] as a substitute for Xherdan Shaqiri[9] and thus became the youngest player ever to play for the Bayern Munich first team in the Bundesliga.[8] He finished the 2012–13 season with no goals in two matches played for the first team and eight goals in 30 matches played for the reserve team.[10]

In December of that year, he was in the Bayern squad which won the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco, although he did not enter the field of play during the tournament.[11][12] On 17 May 2014, Højbjerg started the DFB-Pokal final for Bayern Munich, a 2–0 extra-time win over Borussia Dortmund. He played for a total of 102 minutes before being substituted in the first half of extra time for Daniel Van Buyten.[13] He finished the 2013–14 season with seven Bundesliga appearances and two German Cup appearances for the first team and four goals from 14 appearances for the reserve team.[14]

His first match of the 2014–15 season was the DFL-Supercup on 13 August, playing the first hour and then being substituted for Mario Götze, as Bayern lost 2–0 at Borussia Dortmund.[15] On 8 January 2015, Bayern extended Højbjerg's contract to 2018.[16] He finished the 2014–15 season with no goals from eight Bundesliga appearances, one German Cup appearance, and three Champions League appearances.[17] On 7 January 2015, Højbjerg was loaned to Bundesliga team FC Augsburg for the remainder of the 2014–15 season.[18][19] He made his debut on 1 February against 1899 Hoffenheim.[20] Højbjerg scored his first Bundesliga goal on 11 April against SC Paderborn 07 in a 2–1 loss. On 9 May, he assisted Raúl Bobadilla for the only goal as Augsburg won away at Bayern, who had already won the league by that point.[21] He finished his loan spell with two goals from 16 Bundesliga appearances.[17]

On 28 August 2015, Højbjerg joined fellow Bundesliga side Schalke 04 on a season-long loan.[22] He played 30 games for the Gelsenkirchen-based club, including six in the Europa League, and at the end of the season he told Danish newspaper B.T. that the time had arrived to leave Bayern Munich and become a first-team regular elsewhere.[23]

Southampton
Højbjerg playing for Southampton in 2017

On 11 July 2016, Højbjerg joined English club Southampton on a five-year deal for an estimated fee of £12.8 million.[24] He made his debut in the Premier League on 13 August as the season began with a 1–1 home draw with Watford, coming on in the 55th minute in place of James Ward-Prowse. BBC Sport's Neil Johnston wrote that he "injected pace and urgency" into the Saints, "was not afraid to shoot and was hard-working".[25] Although he played all five matches on the way to the 2017 EFL Cup Final, Højbjerg was an unused substitute in the match at Wembley Stadium, which Southampton lost 3–2 to Manchester United.[26]

Højbjerg scored his first goal for the Saints in his 54th match on 18 March 2018, opening a 2–0 win at League One club Wigan Athletic in the sixth round of the FA Cup, the first match under new manager Mark Hughes.[27] In December that year, Hughes' successor Ralph Hasenhüttl made him the Saints' captain.[28] However in June 2020, Hojbjerg was stripped of the captaincy after publicly speaking about his desire to leave the club, with Ward-Prowse replacing him as captain.[29]

Tottenham Hotspur

On 11 August 2020, Højbjerg joined Tottenham Hotspur on a five-year deal, for a reported initial fee of £15 million plus add-ons.[30][31]

He made his debut on 13 September in a 1–0 home defeat by Everton.[32] Despite this early setback, Højbjerg soon became a key member of José Mourinho's squad in the central defensive midfield position, earning wide praise for his performance in many games,[33][34][35][36] as well as receiving a nomination as Premier League Player of the Month for November.[37] On 28 January 2021, Højbjerg scored his first goal for Spurs in the Premier League with a 20-yard strike at a 3–1 home loss to Liverpool.[38] He made the most appearances ever by a player in the 2020–21 season (3420 minutes).[39]

On 1 November 2022, he scored a goal in the 95th minute in a 2–1 away win over Marseille, in which Tottenham Hotspur finished top of Group D in the 2022–23 Champions League season.[40]

International career

Højbjerg was born in Denmark to a Danish father and French mother.[41] He was called up to the Denmark senior side for the first time in May 2014 for friendlies against Hungary and Sweden and made his debut against Sweden on 28 May, playing the full 90 minutes.[42] On his third cap on 7 September 2014 he scored his first international goal, equalising as Denmark began their UEFA Euro 2016 qualification campaign with a 2–1 win over Armenia in Copenhagen.[43]

In May 2018, he was named in Denmark's preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia,[44] although he did not make the final 23.[45]

Højbjerg was named in the Danish squad for the delayed UEFA Euro 2020 in June 2021.[46] In their opening match, a 1–0 loss to Finland, he missed a penalty; the game had been stopped and resumed due to Christian Eriksen's medical emergency.[47]

Personal life

Højbjerg was born in Copenhagen and grew up in the Østerbro district of the city. He is the second of three children. Højbjerg was introduced to football when he was five years old.[48] Højbjerg's father Christian died of stomach cancer in April 2014, five days after his first start for Bayern.[49][50]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 19 August 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Bayern Munich II 2012–13[10] Regionalliga Bayern 308————308
2013–14[14] Regionalliga Bayern 144———00144
Total 4412———004412
Bayern Munich 2012–13[10] Bundesliga 2000—000020
2013–14[14] Bundesliga 7020—000090
2014–15[17] Bundesliga 8010—3[lower-alpha 3]01[lower-alpha 4]0130
2015–16[17] Bundesliga 0010—000010
Total 17040—3010250
FC Augsburg (loan) 2014–15[17] Bundesliga 16200———162
Schalke 04 (loan) 2015–16[17] Bundesliga 23010—6[lower-alpha 5]0—300
Southampton 2016–17[51] Premier League 22020506[lower-alpha 5]0—350
2017–18[52] Premier League 2305100——281
2018–19[53] Premier League 3140020——334
2019–20[54] Premier League 3302030——380
Total 10949110060—1345
Tottenham Hotspur 2020–21[55] Premier League 38220409[lower-alpha 5]0—532
2021–22[56] Premier League 36220505[lower-alpha 6]1—483
2022–23[57] Premier League 35410107[lower-alpha 3]1—445
2023–24[58] Premier League 800010——90
Total 117850110212—15410
Career total 326261912103621040329
  1. Includes DFB-Pokal, FA Cup
  2. Includes EFL Cup
  3. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  4. Appearance in DFL-Supercup
  5. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  6. Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League

International
As of match played 17 October 2023[59][60]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Denmark 201451
201580
201680
201820
2019102
202050
2021141
2022111
202382
Total717
As of match played 17 October 2023. Denmark's score listed first, score column indicates score after each Højbjerg goal.[59][60]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 7 September 2014Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark3 Armenia1–12–1UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
2 21 March 2019Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina, Kosovo24 Kosovo2–22–2Friendly
3 7 June 2019Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark26 Republic of Ireland1–01–1UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
4 31 March 2021Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria40 Austria3–04–02022 FIFA World Cup qualification
5 6 June 2022Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria56 Austria1–02–12022–23 UEFA Nations League A
6 7 September 2023Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark68 San Marino1–04–0UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying
7 10 September 2023Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland69 Finland1–01–0

Honours

Bayern Munich[61]

Southampton

Tottenham Hotspur

Individual

References
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