Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg joined Tottenham Hotspur in the summer transfer window.
Spurs made a number of moves to strengthen Jose Mourinho’s squad, and Hojbjerg was a central figure in their business.
In addition to the Denmark international, they also brought in Sergio Reguilon from Real Madrid, Matt Doherty from Wolves, Joe Rodon from Swansea City, and Joe Hart from Burnley.
Carlos Vinicius and Gareth Bale have also arrived on loan from Benfica and Real respectively.
Hojbjerg has been excellent, too, playing in all eight of their Premier League games, even providing an assist in the 6-1 win over Manchester United.
However, his old manager, Ralph Hasenhuttl, has now confirmed that Saints were keen to sell their former captain in the summer.
He was entering the final year of his contract and Saints did manage to extricate Kyle Walker-Peters from Spurs in exchange.
Speaking to Kicker, in an interview transcribed by Hampshire Live, he said: “We wanted to sell him because he only had one year of contract and didn’t want to renew.
"In return, we got Kyle Walker-Peters, an English youth national player from Tottenham."
Hojbjerg made 30 starts for Saints in the Premier League last season but was stripped of the captaincy towards the end of his spell and was left out of the squad for games against Watford, Manchester City, and Sheffield United.
Spurs paid £15m for Hojbjerg.
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
This was a bit of a win-win.
Hojbjerg has been excellent since his move to Spurs, becoming a genuinely integral member of Mourinho’s squad.
Walker-Peters, at Saints, has been equally important; he has played in every game in the Premier League thus far too.
Southampton paid £12m for him, meaning that Spurs have effectively spent just £3m on a player who has slotted into their squad seamlessly.
For both sides, this has been an excellent deal.