Tottenham Hotspur’s summer signing Vincent Janssen has often flattered to deceive and Mauricio Pochettino could crack his whip at the Dutch striker. Normally when a player underperforms at Spurs he immediately gets the axe and is never given a second chance at the club. We’ve seen various players like Ryan Mason, Nacer Chadli, Tom Carrol, Benjamin Stambouli, Roberto Soldado to name a few who were immediately sold after not being deemed good enough by the Argentine gaffer.
Tottenham brought in Vincent Janssen, after his excellent season at AZ Alkmaar, to provide the cover for Harry Kane. He not only failed miserably to do so but also failed to impress in any of his games, scoring only once from open play in the Premier League. In signing Janssen, Tottenham failed to replace Harry Kane adequately when injured and also give the striker a much-deserved breather after a run of games.
The signs that he is a decent player and should be given another chance at the club have been few and far between. He hasn’t shown any signs of improvement apart from having a good substitute appearance once here and there. The striker has just not been good enough and he is often equated to another former striker who struggled at the club – Roberto Soldado.
One might argue that the Janssen is younger and maybe there is a lot more to come from the striker. I think it is highly unlikely since there are sufficient signs that he is just not good enough. Apart from the last two games, he has been error prone in the box and has fluffed many really good chances in front of the goal. I don’t think Pochettino has the patience to keep him in the squad for long. Not only that, they also don’t have the luxury of time to keep him when they’ll be competing at the top level against next season.
In addition, why would Tottenham pass on another opportunity to bring in another good striker? Selling Janssen and investing money on another proven Premier League striker might be a wise thing to do. It would be a risk to rely on Janssen next season and not sign any decent back-up to Harry Kane after having given him enough opportunities to impress at the club.
Pochettino rightly doesn’t care for sentiments and knows when a player is working his heart out but is just not good enough. This is one such instance. Janssen is working immensely hard but it just isn’t happening for him and it might be good for both parties to part company.
Missing out an opportunity to sign another striker will be plain foolish from the point of view of Tottenham. They are currently sitting pretty in the league table and must exploit this by luring in another great striker when it would appeal to the player himself. To continue with Janssen is a big risk which is just not worth the gamble. To be fair to him, the expectations from fans are just unreal. He is surely not going to be a 20-goal-a season striker and it’s wise to cash in and invest on another proven striker in the Premier League who might fill the shoes of a decent backup at a big club like Tottenham.
I’ll be glad to be proven wrong but I just don’t see it work for Vincent Janssen at Spurs and is surely not worth taking a gamble of refraining from signing another striker.
I have come to the realisation that we now live in a world that expects all things instantly, and the latest not to deliver, according to many, is Vincent Janssen, but I don’t remember any ARSEANAL fans giving Robin Van Persie the same grief, despite the fact that he only scored 10 premier league goals in his first 2 seasons. so bear that in mind when you start pushing for the exit door.
Thanks, great article.