On Tuesday, Tottenham’s forgotten man Vincent Janssen completed a move to Mexican outfit Monterrey for a fee of around £6million. The 25-year-old flopped badly in north London after joining Spurs for £17million in 2016 from AZ Alkmaar after winning the Eredivisie Player of the Season in the previous campaign.
Destined to fail at Tottenham
In reality, Janssen was never going to be successful at Tottenham. The fact that he suffered injuries did not help his cause, neither did the massive difference in quality between the Premier League and the Dutch top-flight.
He was on to a hiding to nothing the second he joined Tottenham. He joined as potential competition to England international Harry Kane in attack. There was never a contest. Janssen seemed confident that he could oust Kane from the starting line-up.
However, he had misplaced that confidence completely. He joined as a back-up for Kane, and that’s all he ever was for Tottenham. The Dutchman even failed to fulfil that role, so his exit was no big surprise yesterday.
It is a problem for Tottenham
As we know Kane will never be ousted from Tottenham’s starting line-up. It is simply never going to happen. The 26-year-old is Spurs talisman and hero. He is of the standard that he could get into most teams in the European game. On form, he is a goal-scoring machine.
It is great for Tottenham to have such a great goalscorer. The problem for Spurs is that when Kane is out injured, just as he was towards the end of last season, they have very little forward cover. South Korean star Heung-Min Son is an able replacement, but Spurs cannot bring in another out-and-out striker as they know they will experience limited game time.
Veteran Spanish forward Fernando Llorente left the north London club this summer after two years. There are reports that he could return on a short-term deal despite his exit. In many ways, the former Athletic star was perfect, as he accepted the role of Kane understudy without complaining and did a decent job when called upon. However, there are few players like Llorente who are prepared to limit their game time.
Youngster Troy Parrott has been in the Spurs squad in pre-season and has shown promise. However, at 17 years old, it will be a while until he is capable of being a viable Kane understudy, if ever.
Kane could be back to his best next season
Although England played the Nations League finals, Kane has enjoyed a rest this summer. Last summer he was busy helping England to the World Cup semi-finals, and he looked burnout at times last season. Kane still scored 17 top-flight goals, despite missing the final few months of the campaign through injury. In fact, the striker played the least minutes of any league campaign in the last seasons.
No doubt he will be back to his best in the new season and break the 20-plus barrier as he had done for the four previous campaigns before last season. Kane deserves his status as one of the favourites to win the Golden Boot.
It seems unlikely that Tottenham will recruit a new first-team striker this summer. If they do, they will know they could prove to be warming the bench for much of next season.
Will Harry Kane score more goals next season than last season?
