Tottenham Nearing Deal for Vincent Janssen

Reports are coming in that Tottenham and AZ Alkmaar are set to finally agree on a deal that will net Spurs their top striker this summer, Vincent Janssen.

According to ESPN FC, Tottenham are expected to complete a deal for AZ Alkmaar’s Vincent Janssen this week.

Negotiations have been going on since June 8th when it was reported by the Mirror that they were closing in on a £12 million offer. That eventually got rejected with interest in Janssen rising as Wolfsburg, West Ham and PSG all trying to sign the Eredivisie Golden Boot winner who scored 27 league goals in 34 appearances.

Because other teams were vying for the Dutch international’s services, AZ raised the price up to £16 million on the advice of Oakland Athletic’s Billy Beane, to hold out for a better offer.

Unfortunately, doing so rubbed the 22-year-old striker the wrong way as his dream move to Tottenham was clearly blocked. This eventually led to Janssen voicing his displeasure with AZ for the handling of Spurs’ second offer which has put the Dutch club in a bad light.

Something that no club wants to be seen in — having their best players criticizing the team whenever they want to be sold but is told no.

After footballers make the decision to leave, clubs have at most, a year in advance to get an offer that they like before they have to sell. If not, they could sell at a lower value, with Saido Berahino being the most recent example.

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) /

Back to ESPN FC, sources told them that Vincent Janssen had already visited Hotspur Way, Tottenham’s training center, to discuss personal terms while Spurs sent a delegation that includes Daniel Levy to the Netherlands for transfer talks.

Perhaps the final nail in the coffin as to why AZ Alkmaar is now forced to agree on the sale of Janssen, mostly stems from the fact that the Dutch striker publicly commented on AZ’ decision to keep him despite his desire to move to a bigger club.

As a result, AZ blocked a pre-planned appearance on Dutch Euro 2016 show, Studio France, on television station NOS to save face and/or further humiliation.

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Janssen’s agent, told NOS’ website that his client’s appearance was blocked due to all of the current transfer talk surrounding the Dutch international.

“The club forbids Vincent’s appearance at the NOS because of all the transfer perils surrounding him.”

It’s a good indication that Vincent Janssen’s exclusion from NOS was indeed linked to all of the transfer speculation that has been going on for nearly a month.

But just before everyone is quick to celebrate a done deal, nothing is set in stone just yet.

Both clubs are still negotiating terms at this moment in time. They could very well be in the closing stages of said talks, but until an official announcement is made by Tottenham, Janssen is still very much an AZ player.

Assuming that Spurs are able to complete a deal for Janssen, Tottenham would have gotten their top two transfer targets signed within two weeks of one another. One before the transfer window opened (Victor Wanyama) and a few days after (Vincent Janssen).

Next: Tottenham Rejected Bid for Wimmer

After securing a defensive midfielder, a striker has been badly needed — preferably two of them. Once both positions are filled up, a central midfielder is still needed to back up Mousa Dembélé, a center-back to take over Federico Fazio. And, an extra winger to give more width and compete with Clinton N’Jie and Nacer Chadli (assuming he stays).

Mauricio Pochettino knows fully well the targets he’s after, which are depth options. Time will tell if Spurs are able to get their squad fully figured out before their pre-season fixtures, but it’s looking good for the time being.