Vincent Janssen’s move to Fenerbahce suggests Tottenham got it wrong with another big money striker move.
Vincent Janssen departed Tottenham Hotspur for Fenerbahce this weekend, joining the Turkish giants on loan for the season.
Though the Dutchman may yet have a career in North London, especially if he rediscovers the outstanding scoring record he boasted in the Eredivisie while in Istanbul.
With a paltry record of six goals in 39 matches for Tottenham, only two if which were from open play, Janssen was the latest in a number of big money attacking flops by the Lilywhites.
In fact, when you look at the club’s three most expensive striker signings, it makes for pretty painful reading. No wonder Tottenham fans adore homegrown Harry Kane.
Roberto Soldado (£26 million)
The Spain international was supposed to be the missing link in what had been a slightly underwhelming attack in Gareth Bale’s last season at the club. Spurs splashed out on Soldado with some of the money from the Welshman’s sale – breaking their transfer record in the process, and would have surely hoped for big things from a man who scored 81 goals in three years at Valencia. However, that £26 million fee, as reported by the Guardian, wasn’t good value for money.
Soldado scored 16 times in 76 games, with Kane emerging to show him how to find the back of the net – and again five of those were penalties – before returning to La Liga with Villarreal for just £10 million (ESPN).
Interestingly, also joined Fenerbahce this summer, so will be linking up with Janssen.
Vincent Janssen (£17 million)
The 23-year-old did most of his goalscoring from the spot, netting four pens – suggesting there will be a wrestling match with Soldado whenever there Fenerbahce get a penalty – and though Janssen demonstrated plenty of desire to do well, he was unable to find his form under Mauricio Pochettino. Bought for £17 million according to the Mirror, have we seen the last of the Netherlands star in Tottenham colours after just six strikes?
Darren Bent (£16.5 million)
Bent’s two-year stay at Tottenham wasn’t at the level of the two names above him – he was actually the club’s top scorer in his second and final season with a decent 17 strikes in all competitions – but he is still someone who failed to live up to his club record price tag and ended up leaving for a loss.
Spurs signed him for £16.5 million from Charlton Athletic (The Telegraph), but he struggled for starts with Dimitar Berbatov, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Roman Pavlyuchenko all being preferred by management. Harry Redknapp’s infamous comparison between the forward and his wife’s heading prowess suggested Bent and Tottenham wouldn’t work out, and he departed for Sunderland for £10 million (Mirror) after scoring 25 goals in 79 games for Spurs, where he found form once again.
Honourable mention: Sergei Rebrov, the record breaking, big-money flop who started it all.
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