Vincent Janssen’s place at Tottenham is in peril
Mauricio Pochettino is known to be a player’s manager at Tottenham, but once he’s through with you, he’ll cut you off with ruthless aggression. Unfortunately for Vincent Janssen, he seems to be finding that out the hard way.
Pochettino has dealt Janssen two serious blows in the past week. First, he elected to swoop for Swansea striker Fernando Llorente on Deadline Day. Purchasing the Spanish striker was a clear message that the club had lost faith in Janssen’s ability to provide quality cover for Harry Kane.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Pochettino added insult to injury today. The Spurs gaffer purposely omitted Janssen from the club’s Champions League group stage squad. He elected to leave Janssen out of the squad despite having more than enough room to include him.
If you choose to look at this situation optimistically, it’s possible that Pochettino is doing everything he can to push Janssen to fulfill his full potential. The Dutchman is never going to be svelte, but he could certainly get in better shape. Pochettino may be using these tactics as a way to motivate him to put in additional work on the training ground.
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The more reasonable conclusion to draw is that Pochettino is simply done with Janssen. The club were willing to let him leave on Deadline Day but the player refused to go. On one hand its admirable that he’s willing to fight Llorente for the backup striker position. On the other hand, it seems to be a very foolish decision after Janssen was left out of the Champions League squad altogether. It’s possible he’s already been defeated.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Pochettino cut bait on a striker at Tottenham. Both Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado were given numerous opportunities to succeed under the Argentine gaffer, but were jettisoned once he lost faith in their abilities. Janssen seems destined to follow suit.
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Vincent Janssen may have a chance to save his Tottenham career, but it’s a very slight one. Mauricio Pochettino has made it clear he’s lost all faith in the Dutch international. Nothing short of a miracle will save the forward’s Spurs career at this point.