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Southampton 2017/18 season review: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

By Chris Hughes

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of Southampton and Victor Moses of Chelsea in action during The Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Chelsea and Southampton at Wembley Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of Southampton and Victor Moses of Chelsea in action during The Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Chelsea and Southampton at Wembley Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) /
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The Dane was one of the surprise packages of the 2017/18 campaign, finishing the season as perhaps the side’s best centre-midfielder.

Following Claude Puel’s preference to use Steven Davis and Oriol Romeu last season, things looked bleak for the young midfielder when Southampton then added another talented player in Mario Lemina last summer. However, it’s arguable that Hojbjerg exceeded all of them as well as both his own and the fans expectations of him.

Outside of Alex McCarthy, Hojbjerg was a serious shout for Player of the Season and he was even honoured by Katharina Liebherr for his vast improvements this year.

On the whole, Hojbjerg showed determination, grit and passion even when the squad seemed totally void of it – even during the darker days under Mauricio Pellegrino, the young Dane showed the kind of courage that swiftly made him a fan-favourite.

Currently under contract for another three years, the 22-year-old could very realistically be offered a new deal this summer to reflect a stellar campaign on the south coast.

Next: Southampton 0-1 Manchester City: Three match takeaways

WIGAN, ENGLAND – MARCH 18: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of Southampton (L) celebrates as he scores their first goal with Dusan Tadic and Ryan Bertrand during The Emirates FA Cup Quarter Final match between Wigan Athletic and Southampton at DW Stadium on March 18, 2018 in Wigan, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
WIGAN, ENGLAND – MARCH 18: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of Southampton (L) celebrates as he scores their first goal with Dusan Tadic and Ryan Bertrand during The Emirates FA Cup Quarter Final match between Wigan Athletic and Southampton at DW Stadium on March 18, 2018 in Wigan, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) /

Most interestingly Hojbjerg didn’t actually make an appearance until October – his first appearance of the whole campaign was that of a cameo one in the draw with Brighton.

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After that, he was injured and didn’t feature for ANOTHER month, making his first full start in Southampton’s most emphatic win of the season – the 4-1 drubbing of Everton. Looking back, it seems weird that the Saints went so long without giving the Dane a run in the first team – however when you look at well Jan Bednarek has settled in after being on the fringes under Pellegrino, it makes more sense.

Hojbjerg in total made 23 league appearances and a further five in the FA cup, meaning he was near ever-present after his slow start to the campaign.

The 22-year-old’s one and only goal came in the cup too, when the Saints finally broke away from a stubborn Wigan side to take a 1-0 lead in the second half. That was Mark Hughes’ first game in charge.

All-in-all Hojbjerg had a really solid campaign – there was a lot of hype surrounding his arrival as he was signed from Bayern Munich in 2016, but he failed to deliver on a lot of those expectations in his first season.

This time around however his game took leaps and bounds – he had the second-best passing success rate behind Mario Lemina, but his 85% accuracy came off just under ten more attempts per game than the Gabonese international.

Verdict:

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – 8.5/10