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AZ Alkmaar Rejects Tottenham’s Bid for Vincent Janssen

By Alexander Balano

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 20: Mauricio Pochettino manager of Tottenham Hotspur looks on prior to the Barclays Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and A.F.C. Bournemouth at White Hart Lane on March 20, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 20: Mauricio Pochettino manager of Tottenham Hotspur looks on prior to the Barclays Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and A.F.C. Bournemouth at White Hart Lane on March 20, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images) /
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There appears to be a mix-up regarding Tottenham Hotspur’s rejected bid and how much AZ Alkmaar had apparently valued Vincent Janssen two weeks ago.

A day after Tottenham had great news to share, with the signing of Victor Wanyama, today Spurs have some bad news as their €14 million (£11.4 million) offer for AZ Alkmaar’s Vincent Janssen has been rejected. Despite the rejection, this is in no way Spurs’ fault — at least not all of it.

Related Story: Wolfsburg Keen on Signing Tottenham Target Janssen

Originally, Janssen’s value had been reported at £12 million, which the Mirror first broke two weeks ago. Since that time, two things have happened.

First, Wolfsburg joined Tottenham in trying to sign the 22-year-old. Second, because another club is now in the hunt for the Eredivisie’s top goalscorer last season with 27 goals in 34 games, AZ Alkmaar now has a chance to offer their striker to the highest bidder.

Hence, they rejected Tottenham’s offer and now placed a higher value on him.

At €20 million (£16.3 million), Janssen’s new value rose by £4.9 million in the time it took for Spurs to seriously consider such a bargain of a deal, Wolfsburg to enter the fray and AZ to realize that they’d be selling a prized commodity for less than they should actually get in return.

Then again, according to David Hynter of The Guardian, the Eredivisie club would have seriously profited with their original offer of €14 million as they only paid a small fee of €400,000 after Feyenoord didn’t offer Vincent Janssen a contract as a youth player.

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)
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) /

All of this is to say, Tottenham aren’t in the wrong based on their offer. AZ Alkmaar had stated — maybe not officially as transfer rumors are hit or miss — that they were only asking for £12 million (€14.6 million) to begin with and “agreed” on.

Spurs had been mulling an offer after they were linked with the Dutch international, perhaps because they were still scouting him or looking at other options in case something went wrong (see: Antonio Sanabria).

In any event, here’s Max Huiberts, AZ Alkmaar’s technical director and why they chose to reject Tottenham’s offer.

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“The difference between the offer and the asking price is too big. I hear a lot of rumours but nobody else has made an offer.”

Translation (per The Guardian): Tottenham proposed an idea to spread the transfer fee payments over a three-year period. Obviously AZ were not happy about that idea so they refused.

Now, this isn’t the first time that Spurs have opted for a spread out payment to sign someone. Saido Berahino, if you remember, was going for £25 million last summer and Daniel Levy wanted to pay it over time as opposed to the full amount from the very beginning.

This won’t be the last time that Tottenham decides to go this route — a spread out payment method — when it comes to signing someone that they view will be too costly. Sure, Spurs have plenty of money to spend but how they choose to do so is entirely up to them. Even if that rubs people the wrong way.

Just know this, £12 million was the asking price that had been reported, true or not, Tottenham met that amount as close as possible (£11.4 million). Now all of a sudden the value jumps up by nearly £5 million. This right here is AZ Alkmaar’s doing and not Spurs failing to meet the Dutch club’s demands.

Next: Tottenham Confirm Signing of Wanyama

So what to do now? Well, with Mauricio Pochettino wanting to have his squad ready ahead of pre-season, time is of the essence for Tottenham, especially with Wolfsburg eyeing the Dutch striker’s services too.

Therefore, Spurs could either pay a little more and not spread out their payments, or decide to pass up on the Dutch international and sign a different striker. Because clearly, AZ Alkmaar are asking more than they originally hinted at two weeks ago.