Tottenham have had their fair share of high-profile blunders in the transfer market, notably their summer transfer window business on the eve of the 2013/14 season kicking off saw Spurs spend their newly obtained Gareth Bale millions poorly – splashing £120m on flops such as Roberto Soldado, Vlad Chirches and Paulinho with Christian Eriksen the obvious exception.
Other faces that will remembered as duds when pulling on a Spurs strip over years gone by are Moussa Sissoko, David Bentley and Clinton N’Jie, the last of that forgettable trio never scoring for the north Londoners after the striker was tipped to have the potential to be a future bright spark for Tottenham.
Another stand-out transfer mishap was Vincent Janssen, the Dutch striker electric in his native Netherlands with AZ Alkmaar before uncharasterically turning goal-shy when relocating to England.
It’s a transfer that had so much potential, squashed within a lacklustre first season as Janssen would then be sold on to Mexico.
Burning a hole in Spurs’ pocket, the now 29-year-old’s transition to the Premier League was bumpy after leaving the Eredivisie for a sizeable transfer fee.
The cost of Vincent Janssen’s move to Spurs
In 2016, Tottenham must have thought they’d struck gold by signing Janssen for a reasonable £18.6m transfer fee considering the then 22-year-old’s exploits in the Eredivisie before signing on the dotted line at White Hart Lane.
He would net 32 goals from 49 games for ex-employers AZ Alkmaar in total, including a terrific 27 goals in his final full season in the Dutch top-flight which saw the deadly striker win the golden boot beating PSV Eindhoven sharp shooter Luuk de Jong to the prize by a solitary goal.
Janssen would have first come onto the radar of English football fans a couple of months before this move to Spurs was completed however, scoring a penalty against England at Wembley Stadium when featuring for the Netherlands in the March before he joined in 2016.
The allure of joining Tottenham at the time came from Mauricio Pochettino transforming Spurs into an easy-on-the-eye team to watch, the Argentine boss steering his team to a third placed finish during the 2015/16 season which meant the Lilywhites now had Champions League football to savour.
After signing for his new team, Janssen revealed – when speaking to Spurs TV per the Guardian – that it had always been a dream for him to play at that elite level which made the switch to Tottenham a simplistic move to make.
He said: “When I was a little child I watched every game in the Champions League and now I can play it for myself. It’s a beautiful club, a traditional club in England.”
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Vincent Janssen’s career record |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Club |
Games |
Goals |
|
Monterrey |
94 |
24 |
|
Almere City |
74 |
32 |
|
Royal Antwerp |
63 |
27 |
|
AZ Alkmaar |
49 |
32 |
|
Tottenham |
42 |
6 |
|
Fenerbahce |
18 |
5 |
|
Stats via Transfermarkt. |
||
Unfortunately for Tottenham, the goals would dry up for Janssen when he made the move to England with the ex-AZ man never living up to this billing of being a commanding and potent striker he had garnered in the Eredivisie in his new home.
Janssen’s numbers for Spurs
Signed to give Harry Kane competition, the Englishman must never have really sweated about the potential of being dropped by Pochettino with a goal-shy Janssen waiting in the wings.
The Dutch attacker would have to wait nine whole games to get his first Premier League goal, scoring a penalty against Leicester City on the stroke of half-time in a 1-1 draw.
After this strike against the Foxes, Janssen would only muster up one more top-flight goal for Spurs – leaving it until April of the same campaign to net again, rounding off a comprehensive 4-0 victory over AFC Bournemouth with a simple tap-in after an initial Cherries block.
In total, he would manage six goals for the Lilywhites with the domestic Cup competitions more fruitful for the 22-time Netherlands International – even scoring against Liverpool in the EFL Cup in a much-changed starting XI.
His poor stint in a Tottenham shirt even saw ex-Blackburn Rovers striker and football pundit Chris Sutton at the time comment on the situation, with Sutton feeling sorry for Janssen when speaking on BBC Radio Five Live.
He said: “You have to say you feel a bit sorry for him because it is hard to step into Kane’s shoes, but he hasn’t delivered.”
The disastrous move was put to one side in Tottenham quarters when Janssen left the club permanently in 2019 for Monterrey in Mexico, Spurs recuperating £8m in the process.
But, as much as Janssen did flop in English football, he has turned his career around since departing Spurs and is now the star man for Royal Antwerp out in Belgium.
Janssen’s numbers since leaving Spurs
Outscoring Tottenham’s shining light in James Maddison this campaign so far – Janssen hitting the back of the net six times in all competitions compared to Maddison’s lesser three – the forward has undergone a career revival which has seen the 6 foot striker get back to his goalscoring best.
Scoring seven times from nine games played in the Copa MX in his first season out in Mexico was the confidence booster Janssen needed to shake off any doubts that he’d never recapture that deadly goalscoring streak he lost at Spurs again, eventually leaving Monterrey with 24 goals to his name for pastures new in Belgium.
Since joining Royal Antwerp in June last year, Janssen has already eclipsed his Monterrey total for Mark Van Bommel’s outfit – netting 16 goals from 30 games in his debut campaign with the Reds, with Van Bommel’s overperformers going on to lift the Jupiler Pro League title.
His goal output for Antwerp continues to flow, scoring a hat-trick in September versus Belgian opponents KV Kortrijk to help his side win emphatically in a 6-0 drubbing.
Janssen’s first goal in that match at the Bosuilstadion saw an attacker brimming with confidence, connecting with a cross into the box first time to guide the ball effortlessly into the back of the net.
It’s a sign of an attacker who has matured and learnt valuable lessons in the aftermath of his disappointing days at Spurs, the Dutchman often critiqued as being too static and passive when playing under Pochettino at White Hart Lane.
Now, he’s found his goalscoring groove again and has been able to rebuild his career to the point where his time at Spurs just reads as a blemish on his otherwise impressive CV.
