Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s agent Luca Puccinelli refused to rule out a return to the Premier League for the experienced midfielder amid recent links to Newcastle United.
Hojbjerg has been touted as a replacement in the Magpies’ midfield for Bruno Guimaraes, who completed a £75m move to Arsenal on Saturday.
The 31-year-old made 254 appearances in the Premier League during spells with Southampton and Tottenham, before leaving the latter to join Marseille.
Newcastle are on the lookout for midfield reinforcements, having also sold Sandro Tonali to Spurs, with Aladji Bamba and Sean Steur their only arrivals in that department this summer.
And reports suggest that Hojbjerg is Newcastle’s preferred replacement for Guimaraes. The Denmark international has impressed at Marseille, playing 75 times in all competitions since initially joining the club on loan in 2024-25.
And while Puccinelli insisted that Hojbjerg was staying focused on Marseille, he left the door open to a potential move back to England should Newcastle decide to come calling.
“Pierre is a proud Olympique de Marseille player. He is working hard and staying focused every day. About the future we will see,” Puccinelli said.
Since his debut for Marseille two years ago, no player has completed more passes (5,575), won more tackles (87) and won more duels (316) than Hojbjerg, while only Mason Greenwood (81) has appeared more times for Marseille in that time.
Those numbers suggest he could at least bring some of the combativeness Newcastle are losing following Guimaraes’ departure.
Guimaraes has won more duels (1,030) and fouls (410) than any other player in the Premier League since making his debut in February 2022.
The only central midfielder to cover more distance than the Brazilian (1,641km) is Arsenal’s Declan Rice (1, 703km).
