{"id":7234,"date":"2017-09-04T20:46:55","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T00:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonfootball.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=7234"},"modified":"2017-09-07T21:09:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T01:09:03","slug":"vincent-janssen-one-season-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2017\/09\/04\/vincent-janssen-one-season-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"Vincent Janssen: The Real “One-Season Wonder” at Spurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the summer of 2015, it was rare to see\u00a0Harry Kane’s name written without labels like “one-season wonder”, “fraud” or “new Francis Jeffers” closely followed. Two years and two Premier League golden boots later, he has put all those questions about his ability to bed. The critics were right about there being a one-season wonder at Tottenham Hotspur<\/a>, however, but he had not arrived yet.<\/p>\n

The Pretender<\/h2>\n

Vincent Janssen finished the 2015-16 season as the Eredivisie top scorer.\u00a0He\u00a0had been playing\u00a0second division football in the Netherlands\u00a0only\u00a0a season earlier, and his\u00a0sudden nationwide fame\u00a0at the age of 21 naturally drew comparisons with his future team-mate, Kane.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2016, he was handed the Johan Cryuff\u00a0trophy\u00a0for the best Dutch talent of the year. Mauricio Pochettino had watched him play\u00a0for the national side on several occasions that summer,\u00a0and he eventually signed for Tottenham from AZ Alkmaar for a reported \u00a318m.<\/p>\n

One-season wonder<\/h2>\n

Janssen’s rise and sudden success was almost identical to Kane’s, but after\u00a0his transfer the fortunes of the two could not have panned out more differently.\u00a0Regardless of how well Janssen had done in the Netherlands, he was never going to walk into\u00a0a Spurs side which preferred to play a lone striker, considering the preferred choice up front was the current\u00a0Premier League golden boot holder.<\/p>\n

Janssen started off somewhat brightly, but found first team opportunities hard to come by until Kane suffered a serious ankle injury that kept him out for around\u00a0two months. This was the Dutchman’s big chance to prove himself, and he flopped spectacularly.<\/p>\n

For context, Kane got injured on the 21st of September; Janssen scored his first Premier League goal (a penalty) on the 29th of October. He constantly looked off the pace, struggled to get into goal-scoring positions and when he did receive a chance, he usually fluffed his lines.<\/p>\n

The beginning of the end<\/h2>\n

Near the end of\u00a0Kane’s time out injured,\u00a0Pochettino began to play winger Heung Min Son as the main striker,\u00a0returning Janssen to the bench.\u00a0The manager\u00a0seemed to lose all faith in\u00a0the Dutchman, not even providing him with\u00a0the five-minute cameos\u00a0which made up the majority of his Spurs career.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0striker proceeded to make only a few more appearances, scoring one league goal for the rest of the season.\u00a0He managed\u00a0a number of goals against lower league opposition in the cup competitions, but in the Europa League he\u00a0failed to score at all in the six matches he played.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0all\u00a0competitions,\u00a0he managed\u00a0six goals in in 35 appearances, which\u00a0for a striker at a\u00a0top side is simply\u00a0not good enough. So far this season, he has barely featured and has now been left out of Tottenham’s Champions League squad. His future at the club is looking bleak to say the least.<\/p>\n

The dying art of the Premier League poacher<\/h2>\n

Janssen had the same issue as another notorious flop, Roberto Soldado: their goal-scoring predominantly takes place in the six-yard box. Unfortunately for both, in England, especially in sides playing with a lone striker, this makes them very easy to mark and keep quiet.\u00a0Ten years ago, Jannsen could easily\u00a0had a prosperous spell in North London, scoring tap-ins for fun,\u00a0but the rise of the attacking midfielder and the death of the 4-4-2 formation has made life impossible for old-fashioned poachers.<\/p>\n

To his credit, the 23-year-old has very strong hold-up play, which was\u00a0one of the only bright\u00a0spots in his performances,\u00a0but Tottenham did not need that. With the likes of Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen in the side, creating chances was not a problem. What the team needed was a backup for Kane who was capable of scoring more than one goal from open play a season.<\/p>\n

What happens next<\/h2>\n

Janssen has proved his talent for the Netherlands,\u00a0but Spurs is certainly not the club for him and the Premier League may not be the right league, either.\u00a0During the last transfer window, there were several media stories suggesting that he was unhappy with his lack of involvement at\u00a0the club\u00a0and would consider a move away.<\/p>\n

Following the arrival of Fernando Llorente, it was presumed Janssen would be packing his bags, but he bizarrely turned down<\/a> the chance to sign for Brighton on loan. The chance to play more regular football was on offer, so\u00a0one can only presume he believes them\u00a0to be\u00a0below his level. He still remains\u00a0first-choice in the national side,\u00a0but he is unlikely to get much game time at Tottenham. In all likelihood, he will move abroad in January\u2014perhaps after a few more appearances in the cup competitions\u2014and that would be in all parties’ best interests.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>