A penny for Vincent Janssen’s thoughts.
He would have expected to start this season as Tottenham Hotspur’s second choice striker, battling with Son Heung-min for the right to understudy Harry Kane. But then, on transfer deadline day, Spurs swooped to sign Fernando Llorente from under Chelsea’s noses.
The Dutchman slipped further down the pecking order, and with little chance of first team football, Janssen has now joined Fenerbahce on loan.
Thanks for the warm welcome today! Looking forward to this new adventure in Istanbul. Haydi Fener Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.— Vincent Janssen (@vincentjanssen) September 8, 2017
Mauricio Pochettino’s desire for another forward is understandable. With just 6 goals in 39 appearances for Spurs (1,351 minutes of playing time in total), Janssen hardly set the English game alight.
In fairness, Janssen would probably defend his record. He could point to a lack of opportunities to impress – just seven Premier League starts. His manager would have an easy retort. 28 league appearances in total resulting in just two goals – and only one from open play.
SEE ALSO: The remarkably rapid rise of Vincent Janssen
The aforementioned loan to Fenerbahce might be good for the striker. He could well regain the confidence and goalcoring touch that led Spurs to pay AZ Alkmaar £18.6m for this signature.
He may return, next season, rejuvenated But there’s also a chance that he might return only to be sold on permanently. If he does leave, his name will be added to the list of strikers who terrorised the Eredivisie but could not crack the Premier League. Names like…
Eredivisie stars turned Premier League flops – a potted history
Afonso Alves
Afonso Alves, ex-Atlético-MG na Premier League com a camisa do Middlesbrough:
42 jogos
10 gols
2 assistências pic.twitter.com/KkyEiyXvpV— Curiosidades PL (@CuriosidadesPL) February 12, 2017
It’s hard to recall now, but there was a time when Afonso Alves was Europe’s hottest striking property. The Brazilian banged in 34 goals in just 31 in his first season with Heerenveen. That tally built on an impressive goalscoring record from his time in Sweden. He continued in that rich vein of form in the 2007/08 season, netting 11 goals in 8 games.
His name was regularly linked with European big guns in the newspapers. Therefore, it was something of a surprise to see him snapped up by Middlesbrough for around £16m in January 2008. He had a slow start to his career in the Premier League. Injury kept him out until February, and he didn’t find the net until April. But a late-season flurry (including a hat-trick in an 8-1 final day drubbing of Manchester City) left him with a respectable tally of 6 goals in 11 games.
Unfortunately, Alves could not build on that start. In the next season, he scored just four times as Boro were relegated from the Premier League. He was moved on to Qatari side Al-Sadd, and saw out his career playing for a number of clubs in the Gulf. The man who once had the self-confidence to criticise Romario in the Brazilian press could never live up to his own billing.
Mateja Kezman
Ah, Mateja Kezman. He arrived at Chelsea along with teammate Arjen Robben with a burgeoning reputation in Europe. The Serbian had scored 105 goals in four years with PSV Eindhoven, including 31 in 29 games in his final season. With numbers like that, a £5.3m fee looked a potential bargain for the nouveau riche Londoners. Kezman was signed in the 2004/05 season. He was handed the number 9 shirt vacated by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and Stamford Bridge got ready to herald a new goalscoring hero.
The only remotely heroic thing that Kezman managed to do was grab an extra time goal in the 2005 League Cup final, the goal that sealed the game. Unfortunately, it was one of only six he managed in all competitions (39 appearances in all, mostly from the bench). It was no surprise to see Kezman moved on after just one season. The big surprise was that Chelsea were able to recoup what they had paid for him from Atletico Madrid.
SEE ALSO: 3 defenders Antonio Conte is keen on signing for Chelsea this summer
Jon Dahl Tomasson
Newcastle United FC
Jon Dahl Tomasson pic.twitter.com/BVXLepf6Dj— Superb Footy Pics (@SuperbFootyPics) September 10, 2015
In the end, it didn’t quite work out that way. Shearer succumbed to a career-threatening injury, while Les Ferdinand was sold to Spurs. As a result, Tomasson was moved from the second striker position he was comfortable in to the spearhead of the attack. He struggled with the Premier League’s physicality – just 3 league goals in 23 appearances tells the story.
It was no surprise to see him return to the Eredivisie the following summer, joining Feyenoord. Things did get better for him, mind. His four years back in the Netherlands brought a league title and UEFA Cup, and he clinched a big move to Milan, where he won the Champions League.
SEE ALSO: Sense and sensibility: How Feyenoord climbed back to the top
Jozy Altidore
You would think that Jozy Altidore’s unspectacular 2 goals in 30 appearances at Hull City would have been a warning to Premier League clubs. But four years after he had flopped in Hull, Sunderland gave the American a second bite at the cherry in the 2013/14 season. To be fair, the bustling forward had scored over 51 goals in just two seasons at AZ Alkmaar. The record was impressive enough that even an £8m fee did not raise as many eyebrows as it should have in hindsight.
Any Sunderland striker of recent times will tell you that playing upfront for the perennial relegation struggles means feeding off scraps, but Altidore made that look even harder than most. The American ended his first full season with just two goals in all competitions. He stayed on Wearside but was anonymous – quietly shuffling off to the MLS in January 2015.
Siem de Jong
When Newcastle United signed the Ajax captain Siem De Jong for just £6m in the summer of 2014, it looked like something of a coup. It was expected that the Dutchman would add guile and goals to Alan Pardew’s side.
However, injuries put paid his hopes of impressing, resulting in just five senior appearances in his debut season. He also saw the manager who signed him leave, with Pardew departing for Crystal Palace.
De Jong struggled to make up for lost time. He made just three starts in his second season as Newcastle suffered relegation. He didn’t stay in the Championship, instead heading back to the Eredivisie with PSV, on loan – and was sold back to Ajax this summer.
Memphis Depay
Of all the Eredivisie signings on this list, it’s Memphis Depay who arrived with the biggest reputation – and so, perhaps, was the biggest flop.
The Dutchman caught the eye of the watching world at World Cup 2014. He impressed (mostly from the bench) in a number of positions in Louis van Gaal’s tactically flexible side. Despite reported interest from a number of clubs, the winger stayed at PSV. It was a good decision – he ended up as the Eredivisie top scorer and helped his club clinch the league title.
After his goalscoring exploits (he scored more in his final season at PSV than the previous three combined) he was more in demand than ever. Manchester United, then managed by former Holland boss van Gaal, won the race ahead of reported interest from Liverpool and Paris St. Germain.
Despite arriving with a big reputation, the man known as Memphis struggled to make an impact in the Premier League. He scored just two Premier League goals during his one-and-a-half seasons in Manchester.
Though he joined with much fanfare, Manchester United quietly shipped him out to Lyon in January. Reportedly, United agreed a gentleman’s arrangement to be able to bring him back in future (buy-back clauses are outlawed in France – Ed) so it remains to be seen if he will have another crack at an Old Trafford career.
SEE ALSO: The #JF70 2017: Top 10 best Eredivisie young talents to watch in 2016/17
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