Wolfsburg Keen on Signing Tottenham Target Janssen

It appears that Tottenham Hotspur, being the favorites to sign Dutch international Vincent Janssen, could soon face competition and a bidding war with Wolfsburg being involved.

According to Sky Sports, they reported last week that AZ Alkmaar had given Vincent Janssen permission to speak with Tottenham, which he did by spending a day in London to hear what Mauricio Pochettino’s vision is for the 22-year-old striker.

Now, it appears that the Dutch club has also given Wolfsburg permission as well to speak with Janssen. What this looks like at the moment is AZ Alkmaar looking to offer their striker to the highest bidder.

With Tottenham in the Champions League after finishing third in the Premier League last season and Wolfsburg barely missing out on qualifying for the Europa League in the Bundesliga, it should be obvious which team has the upper hand with regards to offering a higher bid to sign the young striker.

Unfortunately for Spurs fans, Sky Sports has received information from their sources (obviously no names, which is the norm) that Tottenham has not contacted AZ Alkmaar about a transfer fee.

Even though it was initially rumored to be a £12 million deal.

Vincent Janssen of AZ Alkmaar during the Dutch Eredivisie match between AZ and PEC Zwolle at the AFAS stadium on april 16, 2016 in Alkmaar, the Netherlands(Photo by VI Images via Getty Images) /

Here’s Lyall Thomas with more information:

“Sky sources also understand there has still not been any contact from Spurs to discuss a transfer fee with the Eredivisie club.”

Trying to guess what Daniel Levy and Mauricio Pochettino are up to at this point is beyond anyone. But looking back at what both men, and the rest of Spurs’ transfer committee did last summer, when there was a lull in the middle of the transfer window after quickly signing three defenders, they took their sweet time to sign Clinton N’Jie and Son Heung-Min.

Both forwards endured injuries (more so for N’Jie that limited him to 14 appearances in all competitions) and couldn’t make any sort of impact that warranted their fees at the time. That doesn’t mean they were bad signings, it was bad luck they got injured.

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Anyways, returning back to the main topic of Vincent Janssen. Let’s assume, for argument’s sake, that Tottenham has in fact not sent a transfer offer for Janssen despite being one of only two clubs to be interested in the Dutch international.

What this says in one perspective, is that Spurs are still doing their homework on the 22-year-old.

Yes, Vincent Janssen scored 27 league goals in 34 appearances this past term (32 goals in 49 total appearances), but could that goal scoring form translate well into the Premier League? It’s to be expected that the Eredivisie is in no way like the Premiership is, in terms of being very physical.

Another way to look at this slow drawn out process even though Tottenham needs a striker right now, is that they need to make sure Vincent Janssen is the guy who could play alongside Harry Kane up top if Mauricio Pochettino decides to do so with Kane playing at the number 10 role. Or if Janssen is fine with coming off the bench during games because Kane is still the main striker.

Because Saido Berahino is no longer on Tottenham’s radar primarily because Spurs are interested in Vincent Janssen, and the fact that Michy Batshuayi is asking for massive wages — on top of what Olympique Marseille want for an offer — not to mention there are better options than Franco Vázquez, Tottenham must get their first summer signing right.

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Perhaps Spurs taking their time to table a bid for Vincent Janssen is because they really are continuing to scout his 2015-16 season before making a final decision.

Or, maybe there’s nothing that’s stopping them — Wolfsburg included — and they’re just waiting until the transfer window opens before officially getting work done. Even though teams don’t need to actually wait.

So, let’s chalk this up as Tottenham doing something very Spursy and taking their sweet time for no real reason (on the outside) even though it’s quite obvious from an age and production standpoint, Vincent Janssen fits into this Spurs squad quite well.