When Tottenham Hostpur signed Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for a fee in the region of £15m back in August of 2020, few would have predicted just how important a part of the Spurs side the 27-year-old central midfielder would go on to become.

However, the former Southampton star would make an immediate impact within Jose Mourinho's side during his debut campaign in north London, not missing a minute of Premier League action over his 38 appearances in 2020/21, scoring two goals, registering four assists and creating four big chances for his teammates in the process.

The £102k-per-week midfielder also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making an average of 64.4 passes - at a success rate of 89% - 2.6 tackles, 1.3 interceptions, 2.8 long balls and winning 5.7 duels per game - with these metrics seeing the Dane average a SofaScore match rating of 6.98, ranking him as Spurs' sixth-best performer in the league that season.

Hojbjerg clearly made a huge impression on Mourinho, with the 59-year-old manager stating of the 27-year-old after a 2-0 win over Arsenal back in December of 2020 (via GOAL):

"Pierre is, first of all, very intelligent. He reads the game very well. He's going to be a coach one day, for sure. He's a pain, asking questions about why we do this and why we do that. On the pitch, he reads the situation very, very well and the people that surround him are really compact, they read the game.

"Physically he's very, very strong and technically he's much better than people think. Because sometimes people think the guy that is good technically is the guy that does the backheel. The guy that is good technically is the guy that does something wonderful. But these are not my words. These are words from coaches of 30, 40 years ago. Simplicity is genius.

"And the guy is so simple in everything he does with the ball. I think he's a phenomenal player. Congratulations, Mr Levy."

It was a similar case for the £61.2m-rated man over his 36 league fixtures in 2021/22, scoring two goals, providing two assists and creating four big chances for his teammates, in addition to making an average of 63.1 passes - at a success rate of 90% - 2.2 tackles, 1.3 interceptions, 3.7 long balls and winning 5.1 duels - at a success rate of 58% - per game.

These returns saw the player who Rob Davies dubbed a "machine" once again average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.19, ranking him as Antonio Conte's fifth-best performer in the top flight of English football last time out.

Furthermore, despite Fabio Paratici's £21.5m signing of Rodrigo Bentancur back in January, as well as the addition of the £35m Yves Bissouma this summer, Hojbjerg has not only retained his place in Tottenham's starting XI so far this season, but he has enjoyed arguably his best form for the north London side to date.

Indeed, over his seven Premier League appearances in the current campaign, the 27-year-old has already scored two goals, registered one assist and created two big chances for his teammates, as well as making an average of 59.3 passes - at a success rate of 91% - 1.9 tackles, 1.1 interceptions, 4.6 long balls and winning 4.4 duels - at a success rate of 58% - per game.

These returns have seen the Denmark international average a breathtaking SofaScore match rating of 7.53 so far in 2022/23, not only ranking him as Spurs' second-best performer in the division but also as the joint seventh-best player in the league as a whole.

As such, considering his ever-increasing performance levels, coupled with the fact that he is now worth an enormous 308% more than the £15m fee Tottenham paid Southampton, it is clear to see that Daniel Levy very much hit the jackpot when bringing Hojbjerg to north London back in the summer of 2020.