PIERRE-Emile Hojbjerg knows he will succeed whether it be at Southampton Football Club or not – but he continues to be deeply motivated to prove himself at St Mary’s.

The 22-year-old’s world changed forever 10 weeks ago when he became a father for the first time, to his daughter Rosa. Something that, for him, is "priceless and difficult to explain".

But while the responsibility of fatherhood has altered the Danish midfielder’s perspective on life – and considerably reduced the amount of sleep he’s getting – there is a fire burning in his belly.

Hojbjerg has been out the team, but was handed his first opportunity to impress Mauricio Pellegrino in the 4-1 win over Everton on Sunday, playing the full match.

He laid on a superb display and, while it had Saints fans cooing with delight, it’s something that Hojbjerg had been waiting for, having played just six minutes of football prior to the Toffees win.

“People say ‘he’s been gone, he’s been struggling’... I don’t even know what they say but I was preparing myself for this situation, for the opportunity,” he told the Daily Echo.

“If that day came I knew that every single day I have trained hard, I have done my stuff, played with the under-23s and prepared to do what I do best in high quality and high intensity – in every aspect of the game, mentally, physically and technically.

“After that, I knew if I kept on going and doing what I do best, and I know I’m not allowed to say it, but Southampton FC wouldn’t be the club for me and I know eventually I’ll succeed somewhere else.

“I am good enough and that is something I believe in and something I know because I do my stuff every single day.

“You have good team-mates around you. I have older players supporting me, I have them talking to me, coaching me a little bit in the dressing room.

“They come to me and help me and that makes it easier.”

Hojbjerg, who moved to Saints from Bayern Munich last summer for £12.8m, is philosophical about his struggles with regular football and won’t be drawn into conclusions over whether he made the right choice in coming to St Mary’s.

“In the end there’s never a right or wrong step, there’s always learning and becoming better,” he said.

“But when I look back on my career, in 15 years when I’m 37, I’ve had my last game of 700 in my career, I put my boots in the closet then say ‘thank you, football player, next step’, then I will look back and see whether it’s a good step or a bad step.

“Listen, this is how I think, every day is a lesson and then that comes with situations which aren’t funny, but each situation is an opportunity.

“You need to take that opportunity and get the best of out of it. I’ve learned a lot from it, I’ve done my stuff; I’ve been at it every single day. I’ve done my extra work on my days off.

“It’s like something you’d read in a sportsman’s book, but you need to put in extra work, you need to keep ready. You need to keep fit, because one day the club will need you.

“If you’re not ready, then who will they look at? Not the coach, not the players – you. If you’re not ready it’s your own mistake.

“It’s about yourself, it’s about keeping ready and it’s about doing your stuff. But then you need to keep going and, like I say, [Everton] was another step.

“I don’t say I’ll play [tomorrow at Manchester City], I don’t say I’ll play Saturday and in the end, if you’re not playing a lot, you stop expecting to be in it.

“Then, suddenly a certain amount of disappointment goes away because you are waiting for opportunities and you’re taking everything good in what you do and you’re not having expectations.

“Yes, I want to play, yes, I’m good enough to play, but does it mean I should play? Does it mean I expect to play?

“No.

“The coach makes the team and I’m showing him every single day that I’m ready. I’m showing every single day that he can count on me and then I’m happy that I could show him on the pitch that he could count on me.

“But when you have good team-mates around you, with your team-mates doing well, then it becomes easier.

“It’s good for me as a young player to have Ryan (Bertrand), Virgil (van Dijk), Cedric, Dusan (Tadic) – players you can speak to and can give you advice.

“That is quality players who can give you something.”

Hojbjerg has learned a lot about himself since joining Saints.

“I’ve shown what I can do and that was one step. Next time, I want to show what I can do again,” he said. “If that doesn’t work out, I want to show again the week after.

“It’s just step by step and the most important thing right now is to play football and, if it’s not at Southampton, then it’s somewhere else.

“I know I’m not allowed to say it from a club perspective but this is how it is.

“I have been happy here, I have learned a lot, not only about the club and about English football, but about myself.

“I’ve an amazing knowledge of what I can do and in which tempo I can play. That is what I’m grateful for and, like I said, footballers want to play football.

“My life is my family but I’m a football player.

“If I tell you as a journalist that you’re not allowed to do interviews, then what? Then you cannot do your job.

“I want to play football. I work every single day, I do what I can do, I try my best, I know if it’s not good enough here, I know it’s good enough for somewhere else.

“I know I will succeed, how far I will go, where I will go and how I will do it but only time can tell that. I believe in my qualities and I believe in my ability.

“In the end it’s about the mind set and if the mindset is hungry you can go where you want to go.”

Is the transfer window on his mind, then?

“Right now, I’m 100 per cent a Southampton player and January and the summer is a long time away, so I’m not thinking about that at all,” he said.

What is on his mind is his new paternal responsibilities.

“It’s amazing. It’s the best thing in my life,” he says.

He continued: “Of course, there is something else in life that is suddenly more important than yourself ... suddenly you’re not the main thing.

“Everything is not just about you. Before, everything was about myself... ‘what can I do to help myself? What can I do for myself, myself myself.

“But suddenly you put yourself away and you do everything for someone else and that is actually a great feeling, an amazing feeling.

“I love my daughter, I love my girlfriend and I’m a happy father. It doesn’t mean I’m a happy football player.

“I’m a happy family man and at the end of the day also a success.”

Has fatherhood changed his perspective on football?

“In different ways, yes,” he said. “Because when you leave the training ground you are a family man, you are a father.

“You are not home and being alone on the couch and thinking ‘f****** hell, the training' or 'damn it the coach didn’t do this, my team-mate didn’t do that, or I didn’t do this’.

“All the questions that suddenly hit you usually you come home and see the little one there and, if you’ve done badly, she still needs to eat, a change of nappy and sleep.

“That gives you some sort of living in the moment and just enjoying what you have.

“It’s priceless, it’s difficult to explain.”