West Bromwich Albion are reportedly weighing up a bid for Tottenham Hotspur’s Vincent Janssen as the transfer window draws to a close in the next two weeks. The Dutch international had a debut season to forget with Spurs with reports claiming that manager Mauricio Pochettino is willing to listen to offers for the player.
Spurs have not managed to get in any players this summer and the Argentine gaffer has enough reasons to tread very carefully during this time of the season after his debacle last season. Spurs had to shell out a fortune on Sissoko and Janssen before the duo turned out to be huge failures. Even Pochettino, who is credited to have nurtured and brought up the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, could do little for the Netherlands striker.
The man arrived from Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar for £17 million could score just one goal from open play last game. While in total, he could score six goals in all competitions, four of them were from penalties. Tottenham are ready to offload him this summer itself and with clubs like Bundesliga’s Borussia Monchengladbach, Serie A’s Lazio, Ligue1’s Marseille and Premier League Stoke City willing to offer for him, Pochettino looks one step away from sanctioning his departure.
Surely, the player has some potential that had led the Spurs manager to get him in the first place but, competing for the first team place with the likes of Harry Kane is extremely difficult and Spurs can decide to loan him out for the time being to see how he progresses. However, without getting a likely replacement for him, Pochettino cannot risk Kane alone up front especially with midweek Champions League fixtures to attend to.
Loaning off to the Baggies could be a suitable option as the biggest hindrance for the striker was evidently the physicality of the game. The lean figure of the 23-year-old hasn’t been able to withstand the rigorous nature of the league and coming off the bench makes it all the more difficult. With time, the forward is expected to gel in well and even reach the potential that was expected of him.
Vincent was nearly unstoppable in the 2015-16 season with Alkmaar scoring 27 goals in 34 league games. Although his quality was spotted from second-tier side Almere City FC, very few forwards have been consistent in the top-flight football after being a hit with the lower sides. Janssen hasn’t stopped developing and has even scored seven times in 13 games for the country since making his debut in 2016.
