Tottenham Target Vincent Janssen Undergoes Medical

The Eredivisie’s Golden Boot winner is closing in on his dream move to Tottenham after undergoing a medical in Hotspur Way on Monday.

ESPN FC has reported that Vincent Janssen has arrived in London to undergo a medical today ahead of his £17 million transfer from AZ Alkmaar to Tottenham Hotspur.

What has ended up becoming a very bizarre and unnecessary transfer saga had the Eredivisie side agreed to Spurs’ second bid of £15 million bid last month, looks set to be over at last.

Per Dan Kilpatrick of ESPN FC, AZ had given Janssen permission to visit Tottenham last month to discuss personal terms as well as learn of Mauricio Pochettino’s plans for the 22-year-old Dutch international.

This in turn gave Spurs officials (mostly likely their transfer committee), including chairman Daniel Levy, the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands to negotiate an appropriate transfer fee with the Dutch club.

Of course a £15 million bid would be rejected on the advice of Moneyball inventor, Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics’ Executive Vice President, so that AZ Alkmaar could get more money in return.

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) /

When Vincent Janssen learned that AZ refused to sell him despite letting him meet with Tottenham, the Dutch striker publicly called out his club for their handling of his transfer situation.

Days and weeks would pass before a stalemate would end with AZ finally accepting the aforementioned £17 million offer and Janssen leaving over the weekend to take his medical on Monday.

A move should be officially announced later on today, or within the next couple of days. According to Kilpatrick, Vincent Janssen’s deal includes a sell-on fee should Tottenham decide to sell the 22-year-old in the future.

If, Spurs decide to part ways with the Dutch striker after a few seasons, AZ who will already receive the highest offer for one of their players (Janssen) could see more come their way if the 22-year-old is sold by Tottenham.

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So what comes next once Janssen’s signing becomes official?

Tottenham would need to bolster other key positions and currently attacking midfielder is one place that they’ll look next with Georgino Wijnaldum being an option.

Central midfield, a winger and a center-back are three other areas that needs to be upgraded too. But right now, once Vincent Janssen’s signing is complete, he has to hit the ground running because of AZ stalling on this deal for nearly a month.

While the Dutch striker isn’t worried about Harry Kane and insists that the two of them can actually work together at the same time, for the time being, Mauricio Pochettino’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation has remained throughout his tenure.

With Pochettino only using a different formation a couple of times, it remains to be seen if he will continue his third season in charge with what has worked (the 4-2-3-1) or scrap it entirely to incorporate new players who will join his squad.

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Whatever happens, the Argentine manager was adamant back in January, that if he got a second striker, he would change his formation accordingly.

Well, Vincent Janssen’s move to Tottenham is nearly complete, but will this spell the end of the 4-2-3-1 or will Harry Kane drop into the number 10 position with Janssen as the lone striker up top?

Mauricio Pochettino’s formations are generally flexible during games so perhaps it’s safe to say that he’ll incorporate different systems based on certain match-ups next season.

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