His style of play didn’t fit: Marcelo Bielsa rejected chance to pursue Spurs misfit Vincent Janssen

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Lille boss Marcelo Bielsa allegedly snubbed the chance to chase Tottenham striker Vincent Janssen.

Vincent Janssen is enduring a tough time at Tottenham Hotspur – and the London Evening Standard now carry quotes from Lille owner Gerard Lopez suggesting that manager Marcelo Bielsa rejected the chance to target him.

Janssen, 23, joined Spurs from AZ Alkmaar in his native Netherlands last summer, and he was seen as an important addition having hit 31 goals in 49 games for AZ, with many believing that he could be the man to support Harry Kane in attack.

However, the Dutch international struggled to live up to his billing, and scored just six goals in all competitions, with only two of those goals coming from open play.

On deadline day, Tottenham decided to bring in a new striker, as Fernando Llorente arrived from Swansea City, meaning Janssen is now third choice – at best – behind Kane and now Llorente, with manager Mauricio Pochettino possibly even favouring winger Son Heung-min in attack.

Janssen appears to have little future in North London, but one club appears to have backed away from pursuing him – Ligue 1 side Lille, who have undergone major changes this year, with Gerard Lopez buying the club, appointing Marcelo Bielsa as their new manager.

Bielsa is widely credited as being Pochettino’s mentor having not only signed him for Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina, but also managed him with the Argentinian national team, with the Spurs chief telling The Guardian in 2015 that he remains a huge fan of his old boss.

Now, Bielsa appears to have snubbed the chance to target one of Pochettino’s outcasts, as Lille owner Lopez has been quoted by the London Evening Standard as saying that Bielsa didn’t want experienced players such as Wilfried Bony to come in, and he didn’t feel that Janssen fit his plans for Lille.

“I offered Marcelo the chance of bringing in experienced players, he didn’t want them,” said Lopez. “We offered him [Wilfried] Bony, for example. He wanted a group that corresponded to his needs. He wanted a group he had chosen with Luis Campos. Janssen? Technically, his style of play didn’t fit into the project Marcelo wants to create,” he added.

That leaves Janssen fighting for first-team football with Tottenham, and whilst Bielsa and Pochettino seemingly don’t want him, another manager may well be keen to take a chance on him in 2018.