da lvbet： According to a recent report from The London Evening Standard, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino looks set to bring Vincent Janssen in from the cold. The Netherlands international made the move to the Premier League outfit back in the summer of 2016 but has seriously struggled to make a meaningful impact in North London, to the point that he hasn’t even featured for the first team this season.
da dobrowin： Yet a recent report from The London Evening Standard suggests that Pochettino has added the striker to his Premier League squad for the second half of the season, and given the injury to Harry Kane and the struggles Fernando Llorente is having up top, it’s a decision the Argentine simply had to make.
The Breakdown
Ultimately, Kane’s injury back in their Carabao Cup clash with Chelsea last month, which was swiftly followed by a hamstring problem for Dele Alli, has left Spurs extremely short in the final third of the pitch – they are somewhat fortunate that Son Heung-min’s South Korea were knocked out of the Asian Cup as early as they were.
And that’s because the 26-year-old has hit the ground running upon arrival back in the UK with goals in each of his last two matches, but such is the amount of traveling and football he has played in the last 12 months or so, Pochettino will surely have to manage the forward through what looks set to be a busy few weeks for Tottenham.
And while Spain international Llorente has scored once and laid on two assists in his last two Premier League games for Spurs, the 33-year-old simply isn’t reliable enough to lead the line – he may have scored against Watford, but he still missed a glaring opportunity earlier in the clash.
And while Janssen hasn’t been able to produce his best form since moving to Tottenham two-and-a-half years ago, the sheer lack of genuine alternatives in the final third left Pochettino with no choice but to bring him back in from the cold.
The 24-year-old earned a move to Spurs back in 2016 after impressing hugely in his homeland with AZ, netting 31 goals in just 49 games for the Dutch side in the 2015/16 season to underline his credentials in front of goal.
But Spurs fans have yet to see that form replicated in a Tottenham shirt given Janssen has bagged only six times in 39 appearances for the North London outfit, of which only two have come in the Premier League – and one of those was from the penalty spot.
However, it’s clear that Tottenham fans, certainly in his first season at the club, wanted the striker to succeed given what he gave to the side when on the field – things may not have been working for him in front of goal, but he always put a shift in to underline his commitment to the cause.
Overall though, there is clearly a hugely adept striker in Janssen just waiting to be seen in English football, and with Kane out injured, Son likely to be given some rest over the coming weeks, and Llorente failing to wholly convince, he may not get a better chance to salvage his Spurs career.
Ultimately though, from a Tottenham point of view, adding Janssen to the Premier League squad was a call Pochettino simply had to make.
Tottenham fans… what do you think? Let us know!