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Great Transfer Business For Saints As Hojbjerg Departs

Although the two deals were essentially separate, Kyle Walker-Peters has signed on a permanent transfer from Tottenham Hotspur whilst Pierre Emile Hojbjerg has departed in the opposite direction.

Saints have announced the signing of Kyle Walker Peters for a fee believed to be £12 million with Hojbjerg now a Spurs player for a fee that is described by the BBC Sports website as "short of Saints' £25m asking price, but well in excess of Tottenham's £15m opening offer."

That is said to be a down payment of between £17-19 million plus several add on's that couldl bring the final figure up and above £20 million.

This will please Saints supporters who have had mixed feelings about Hojbjerg, around half the fanbase saw him as a competent Premier League player, whilst the other half saw him as someone who too often came up short when it came to passing the ball and hitting the target.

Perhaps in a side like Spurs he will shine in a way he could not do at Saints, but there are few tears for his departure in Southampton tonight.

Spurs fans will say that is sour grapes, but that would be untrue, when the likes of Dean Richards went to Spurs in 2002 or Dejan Lovren to Liverpool six years ago we showed what sour grapes where when they became public enemy number 1 and abused every time they visited St Mary's.

We were aggrieved that they left under a cloud their forcing moves, but more pointedly we were annoyed that they had left us, we knew that we would miss them on the pitch and that hurt the most.

But with Hojbjerg it is different, we are not worried about his departure, we know that we have players at the club to replace him who are just as good if not better, but we also feel that we are getting the best of the deal.

Until six months or so ago when suddenly we were told he was Spurs number one target, we would have snapped someones hand off at £12 million, so to get nearer £20 million is good business.

But with Kyle Walker Peters coming in the other direction we feel we have shored up a problem position and bought a player who can truly become a player who makes a difference, Hojbjeg plugged a gap at best, KWP can truly shine for Saints.

Too often Saints supporters have berated the club for allowing players to go too cheaply, you won't find many saying this is a bad bit of business today.

Pierre Emile Hojbjerg is not a bad player, but he hasn't been a great one for Saints, he has been a good squad member who works hard but lacks the final product whether that is a killer pass or finishing himself.

Too often we have bought players and paid them too much and found it hard to move them on and had to loan them out, this has hampered our transfer dealing's, but today we have got a player off the books in a position we can cover , we have made a profit and used some of that to strengthen a problem area.

Good business from Saints and Ralph Hasenhuttl who has dealt with the situation with class, he took the decision to strip Hojbjerg of the captaincy and only use him in a bit part role after the re-start, this seemed to do wonders for team spirit and morale and more importantly we found a balance we had lacked for most of the first 3/4 of the season.

So you will find no complaints or sour grapes from Saints supporters today, only a surge in positivity that we can finally see the club on a forward path.

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