Jose Mourinho hails Tottenham for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Joe Hart deals: 'They are going to make us stronger'

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George Flood22 August 2020

Jose Mourinho has lavished praise on Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy for securing the "intelligent" summer signings of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Joe Hart.

Both players made their Spurs debuts in Saturday's 3-0 pre-season friendly victory over Ipswich Town in north London, with Danish midfielder Hojbjerg - a £15million arrival who had previously entered the final 12 months of his contract at Southampton - featuring for 63 minutes and ex-England no1 goalkeeper Hart brought on at half-time.

Mourinho was suitably impressed by the former's performance against League One opposition, while he believes the latter will help Tottenham to cope with a hectic 2020-21 fixture list - one that could see them play as many as nine games in the opening 22 days - following the departure of previous third-choice goalkeeper Michel Vorm.

Captain Hugo Lloris is currently first-choice at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Argentine Paulo Gazzaniga has been serving as his deputy.

"The club found very intelligently the moment to do it," Mourinho told Tottenham TV.

"It was the last year of contract for Pierre, his club was in a difficult situation in terms of negotiation so I think Mr Levy did amazing for us getting such a good player for us."

He added: "I think the club did amazing in both because they are going to make our squad stronger. To bring Joe, 75 caps for England and lots of experience, he is great protection for us to have three goalkeepers.

"All internationals for their country, all good goalkeepers, you can sleep well because any injuries or problems that we have, we have three good goalkeepers.

"With some of the crazy fixtures we are going to have, playing all the competitions, the Carabao Cup at the same time as Europa League and Premier League, even goalkeepers cannot play every match so it is very, very good business for us."