With Brighton & Hove Albion currently 7th in the Premier League and Brentford FC in 10th, it isn’t overly surprising to see the two clubs go for the same targets, especially when it comes to a Scandinavian in Serie A.
After all, Roberto De Zerbi knows the league like the back of his hand while the Bees have found themselves a nice niche of signing players from Denmark, Sweden and Norway (amongst others) to bolster their squad with Thomas Frank at the helm.
So, with Morten Hjulmand impressing at Lecce this season, it’s almost expected to see Brighton and Brentford among the list of potential suitors.
This is according to Gazzetta dello Sport, who dedicate an article to the defensive midfielder, who was signed for a mere €120k in January of 2021.
He was key to helping Lecce get promoted, and has continued that form this season, with the club now eight points clear of the relegation zone after 15 games.
His performances have caught the eye, and that’s where Gazzetta start listing interested clubs, starting with Roma, before mentioning Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga and then finishing off by naming both Brentford and Brighton.
All these teams are ‘attracted by the qualities of the number 42 who combines height in front of the defence with technical skills and an incredible ability to recover balls’.
Not called up to the Denmark squad for the World Cup, he will watch his compatriots from home, but that doesn’t stop the fact he has ‘an important future ahead of him’.
That being said, he won’t be leaving in January because Lecce have ‘no need to sell him’ then, but next summer could be different.
If an ‘ambitious club’ were to come forward with an offer of a ‘certain weight’, allowing him to make a ‘qualitative leap’, then that could change matters.
How much would that cost? Gazzetta reckon ‘more than €20m’, because otherwise Pantaleo Corvino ‘will not even sit at the negotiating table’.
That should be doable for both Brighton and Brentford next summer, although who knows who else will join the queue between now and then?