After much speculation and reported complications in transfer talks, Spurs have finally completed the signing of Vincent Janssen from AZ Alkmaar. But how exactly does the front man compare to Harry Kane and where would he fit into the squad?

Harry Kane showed excellent form last season after a shaky start, netting on 25 occasions and at times looking absolutely unstoppable, providing the baulk of Spurs’ goals on his way to collecting the Premier League golden boot. Janssen in fact outscored Kane last season, managing an impressive 27 goals in the Dutch league last season, making four less appearances. However, it is more than fair to say that the standard of football in the Premier League is higher than that of the Eredivisie.

In terms of creating chances and goals, Kane managed to create 44 chances for teammates, but only notched up one assist. Janssen on the other hand created a total of 56 chances, four of which resulted in goals. Looking at those numbers, neither striker had made a name for themselves creating goals, hence neither playing in a playmaker role.

At first glance, Janssen’s statistics look good, although we have to question whether he would fit in with the Premier League style of play. Pochettino likes to play with just the one striker up top, so we are likely to still see Harry Kane start up front more often than not.

However, the signing of Janssen will provide Pochettino with a new option that the Argentine has not been able to enjoy over the course of last season, and that is the option of throwing on a recognised striker mid-game to offer something a little different up front.

Whether Spurs are chasing the game or trying to break the deadlock in a tight match, the addition of Janssen will give the manager the option of chucking another striker onto the pitch, or if Harry Kane isn’t performing, replace him with another striker in a like-for-like switch.

Looking at the two players, they look to be very similar in terms of the style of player that they are, so the two playing up front together in a partnership from the start looks unlikely when you also take into account Pochettino’s preferred formation being 4-2-3-1.

The most likely scenario is that Vincent Janssen will come in as a second choice starter, but looking at his ability and goals scored last season for AZ Alkmaar, the 22-year-old looks to be a natural finisher, and if he manages to bring that form to White Hart Lane, he should have no problem settling in and pushing Harry Kane for a starting spot. With the Champions League also playing a part in the fixture list for Spurs next season, there will surely be no shortage of first team opportunities for Janssen next season following his move to North London.

Tottenham are on the look out for a new wide player if reports are to be believed. After completing the signing of Vincent Janssen from AZ Alkmaar, Mauricio Pochettino’s attention will now turn to adding a new wide outlet to his attacking force according to the press. Here are three players being widely linked.

1 – Moussa Sissoko

Sissoko continues to puzzle football fans around the world. A player that clearly has talent, he looked lost and disinterested last season when Newcastle were relegated. Since then he has talked up a move to a top half Premier League club and many (everyone) laughed. His performances at Euro 2016 has made football fans take a second look. He was perhaps the driving force behind France reaching the final, and although they lost in extra time to Portugal, Sissoko was certainly one of the brighter, best performing French players for that fixture. Sissoko is now desperate to leave the club as soon as possible, according to Sky Sports. Tottenham, alongside Everton and Liverpool are now being strongly linked with a move for the 26-year-old, but if they do sign him it is clear that they need to change his mentality in league football. Newcastle are asking for £35million and he is not worth a third of that if he plays as he did last season for the Magpies. If Tottenham signed him you would hope that Pocchettino has the ability to get the best out of him and he would surely be more motivated to play for a Champions League club rather than one who were fighting relegation all season. £25million appears a more realistic valuation though. Despite a poor season from Sissoko and Newcastle, he still managed to notch up 7 assists but scored just 1 goal. There’s clear potential there, the question is whether he could fulfil that potential at Tottenham because for anything near £35million, he would need too.

With one signing already made for Spurs this summer, Victor Wanyama, Mauricio Pochettino will be keen to add to other areas of his squad, as well as keep hold of existing players. Here is the latest Tottenham transfer gossip.

1 – Spurs Keen On Wijnaldum (Telegraph)

With Spurs closing in on completing a deal worth around about £17m for striker Vincent Janssen, the Telegraph report that Spurs are keen to make Newcastle’s Georginio Wijnaldum a Tottenham player and will turn their attention to getting talks underway once the Janssen deal is completed, a deal which the Lilywhites are confident about completing.

Newcastle were relegated last season, and the midfielder’s comments regarding his footballing future will have cast uncertainty around the future of the Dutchman at Newcastle United. His comments read:

“Of course I want to play at as high level as possible, in the Premier League, with a beautiful club – but not everything always goes the way you want. I will see what happens.”

The midfielder appeared in every single one of the north-east outfit’s Premier League games last season, scoring on eleven occasions, and Rafa Benitez will be keen to keep him at the club, but playing at a higher level will be a key factor in the 25-year-old’s decision.

Wijnaldum operates in the attacking midfield, an area that Pochettino will be keen to strengthen after completing the signing of Victor Wanyama in the defensive midfield.

Spurs were also reportedly interested in bring Newcastle front man Ayoze Perez to White Hart Lane, but we have heard nothing more about that transfer since reports surfaced last week.

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Pedro Aldave, agent of young River Plate striker Lucas Alario has confirmed that if Spurs were to make a bid, then the striker would strongly consider a move to White Hart Lane.

The player’s agent was speaking over the weekend about Alario’s future at River Plate, confirming that Italian club Genoa have also shown an interest in the striker as well as Tottenham. Here is what the agent had to say about the player’s future:

“Today Alario is at River. There was only one proposal, from Genoa, and interest of Tottenham. If Tottenham pays the clause, Alario is going.”

The player himself then said that his desire to play his football in Europe, and judging by the comments made by his agent, he would be tempted to make the switch to North London if a bid was tabled by Spurs.

The front man has made a total of 80 senior appearances, and has netted on 23 occasions during that time, and I believe that the striker would need to prove himself a little more before Spurs decide to make a move. However, the Spurs scouts have obviously seen something special in the striker, sparking interest from Mauricio Pochettino.

As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, the goal for this transfer window is to provide more attacking options and backup for current first choice striker Harry Kane, and with Pochettino keen to fulfil this, the signing of Vincent Janssen could well be completed in the near future.

Janssen is a young striker, who like Alario, lacks experience in playing in Europe’s elite leagues, and could struggle to adapt to the pace and the physicality of the Premier League should they complete switches to the Capital.

The addition of new promising strikers would be very healthy for the squad, providing competition for Harry Kane. But let’s face it, does Kane need a competition in order to motivate himself to perform?

Having said that, new strikers would also allow Kane rest before big matches such as the Champions League, allowing him the maximum chance to perform at his peak during these matches.

Would Alario be a good signing for Spurs? Comment below with your thoughts.

The Telegraph report that the sole reason that Spurs’ move for Vincent Janssen has not been successful is down to a Spurs fan and a club that have great trust in his calculations.

The report claims that Billy Beane, the founder of Moneyball is holding up the move as he has set a valuation of £16.5m of Janssen, a sum of money that does not match the highest bid Spurs have made, currently standing at £15m.

Beane and his company Moneyball made their name providing in-depth statistical analysis in baseball, and will be hoping that he can do something similar in football.

AZ Alkmaar hired the Spurs fan last year in March, and trust that his calculations show the true market value of the striker, rejecting Tottenham’s latest bid, holding out for their full asking price set by the Spurs fan Beane.

Providing backup for Harry Kane will be one of Mauricio Pochettino’s main summer transfer window targets, and he will certainly be closer to completing his goal if Spurs can complete the signing of Janssen from AK Alkmaar.

Spurs will be disappointed that they are set to lose out on reported target Michy Batshuayi, who looks set to complete his transfer to Chelsea, and have according to reports in Italy, turned their attention towards an Inter Milan striker.

Janseen is reportedly keen on a move to Spurs, and if given the choice between a move to White Hart Lane and West Ham, who are also keen on the striker, the Dutch international would most likely chose Spurs over their London rivals.

The 22-year-old is keen on a move to Spurs, and will also be keen to make his name in a Spurs shirt, and would have a huge job ahead of him if he is to take Harry Kane’s starting spot, so it is more than likely that if he was to arrive, it would be as second choice striker.

However, if he is to take up this role, he cannot be cast away to the substitutes bench to become a forgotten man. He will still have a very important role to play in the Spurs side. With the Champions League coming next season for Spurs, Pochettino will not want Kane to be playing every single game, so the onus will be on Janssen to do the business when Kane is rested or off the boil.

Will Janssen seal his preferred move to White Hart Lane over this summer transfer window? 

So, it has been made official by Tottenham Hotspur that we have finally completed the signing of defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama from Southampton, but he will not be able to walk into the starting eleven, he will face stiff competition from day one in Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele. 

As I have discussed before, I believe that the signing of Wanyama is extremely healthy for the Spurs squad, especially those in the defensive midfield, with the new signing providing vital squad competition in that area. The battle for holding midfield spots is likely to be a three-horse race between Dier, Dembele and Wanyama, and the signing of the Kenyan could spell the end for Nabil Bentaleb, Tom Carroll, or even Ryan Mason. But how will the arrival of Wanyama have an impact on the Spurs starting eleven?

Mauricio Pochettino has two options following the signing of Wanyama. He now knows that he has three quality defensive midfielders in his squad, he can either leave them to battle it out for first team opportunities, or he can change the system to accommodate all three.

It is pretty safe to say that if we are to see a change to the system, it will not be in practice in the early games of the season, due to Dembele’s ban that keeps him out for the early part of the season. Having said this, in order to accommodate all three midfielders, the two formations that Pochettino would most likely look at would be 4-5-1 and 4-3-3. The only real difference between the two formations is the position of the two wingers, the 4-3-3 sees the wingers push up higher, and essentially play as attackers alongside Harry Kane.

However, for me, one of the possible formation changes could spell the end for potentially for at least one of Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen or Erik Lamela, and allows very little room for rotation for the likes of Nacer Chadli or Heung-min Son. In my opinion, a formation change does not look to be the wise thing to do. Besides, why change a system that works? We all know what could have been if we held our nerve at vital moments last season.

Now that we have explored the possibilities of a formation change, and seen that this is probably a path that Mauricio Pochettino should not look at taking heading into next season, we can start to look at who might start next season in those two defensive midfield positions, assuming that Pochettino sticks with the 4-2-3-1.

Towards the end of the season, the partnership built between Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele proved to be an effective and successful one as the pair bossed the midfield. However, it seemed that once we lost Dembele through a ban, the whole team seemed to fall apart against Southampton and Newcastle. Although you could argue that the draw at Stamford Bridge after being two goals up and losing the league was the real catalyst to a nightmare last two games of the season. Putting that aside, we can all agree that losing Dembele certainly didn’t help the cause.

Coming in at Spurs, Wanyama will see that Dembele misses the first four games of the season, and will see this as a perfect opportunity to impress Pochettino and perform well in the midfield alongside his defensive midfield partner, most likely to be Eric Dier for the first four games of the campaign.

However, the the selection headache will begin for Pochettino once Dembele returns from his ban. Again, he will be left with a few choices; stick with the Dier-Wanyama partnership, leaving Dembele out; bring Dembele in and revert back to the partnership he formed with Eric Dier at the tail-end of last season; or does he drop Eric Dier and play Wanyama and Dembele alongside each other.

I am fairly confident that Wanyama will start the season alongside Eric Dier, but what happens after Dembele returns is a lot less certain. My gut feeling is that Pochettino will revert back to the partnership that Dier and Dembele shared at the end of last season, but Wanyama has that opportunity at the start of the season to work wonders for himself and cement his place in the starting eleven even when Dembele returns.

Who do you think will start in front of the back four for Spurs next season when Dembele completes his ban? 

As Spurs move ever closer to making their first signing of the summer in Kenyan midfielder Victor Wanyama, Mauricio Pochettino likely to soon turn his attention to providing backup for Harry Kane and to bolster his attacking options.

Here are four strikers that Spurs could look at signing over the summer.

1 – Vincent Janssen

If Spurs want to bring Janssen to White Hart Lane, they might have to act fast as it was suggested by the Daily Mail that Wolfsburg are interested in his services, and have contacted AZ Alkmaar about his availability.

The Dutch club believe that the striker is valued at around £15m and it will take a bid of £15m or thereabouts to secure the Dutchman’s signature. Wolfsburg are believed to be in pole position, with Spurs yet to make a bid for Janssen.

Janssen joined AZ Alkmaar last season, and has had no problems at all finding his goalscoring form, netting 28 times in 40 appearances in a successful debut season. His form has earned him a place in the Dutch international squad, and he did score at Wembley in a 2-1 win for the Netherlands.

Reports over the past couple of days have suggested that Victor Wanyama will complete his move to Spurs to reunite with former coach Mauricio Pochettino in the near future. Here are three reasons why Victor Wanyama could be the perfect signing for Spurs. 

1) The Kenyan has worked with Pochettino before

Although not identical, the style that Spurs play now is a very similar style to the one played by Southampton when they were managed by Mauricio Pochettino.

This means that the Kenyan international will have an extremely good idea of what the Argentine will require of him playing in the midfield for Spurs. With the deal edging closer to being completed, this suggests that Wanyama is more than willing to play the Pochettino way.

This experience of playing in a Pochettino side means that the settling in process is likely to be much shorter, and come the start of the season, Wanyama should be more than ready to do a job in the Tottenham midfield alongside Mousa Dembele, or perhaps Eric Dier.

Sky Sources understand that Spurs are edging ever closer to signing Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama who looks set to reunite with former manager Mauricio Pochettino, after all-but confirming his exit. 

Sky Sports claim that Southampton are keen on recouping at the very least what the paid for the Kenyan international, but Spurs are understood to have negotiated a deal for just under what the Saints signing him from Cletic for, £12m.

Reports last summer suggested that Spurs are extremely keen on signing the central midfielder, and the player himself told manager Ronald Koeman that he was interested in a move to Spurs, but the side from St. Mary’s refused to let him go.

One year on, and Wanyama is seemingly still interested in a move away from managerless Southampton to White Hart Lane, and this time, the move could go through for a fee of just under £12m, a fee considerably less than what Spurs were reportedly were prepared to pay this time last year.

Now, the midfielder has spoken out about his proposed move away from the South coast, and it is very encouraging for Spurs fans as they move closer to signing their man, saying this to Soka25east.

“It’s always a tough moment leaving a club that you are so much used to their tradition and fans but again it’s always the dream of any footballer to play at the very top level like Champions League. I will definitely miss the awesome Southampton fans who always showed me love and I know they will fully understand my decision.”

Leicester have also been linked with the midfielder, but it looks like Spurs will beat the Premier League champions to their target, and what a good signing it would be for Spurs. We know Wanyama can play under the Pochettino style from the Argentine coach’s time at the Saints, and should have no problem slotting into the Spurs side.

This signing should it go through would break that trend that Spurs have followed over the past few transfer windows. It is no secret that Spurs have been looking to strengthen the squad this summer, and Spurs may have found that rather than looking abroad, the answer could well be standing right in front of them in the Premier League.

Napoli have joined Crystal Palace in the race to buy young Spurs midfielder Nabil Bentaleb, with Tottenham ready to offload the youngster, according to the Daily Mail. 

The Mail claim that Spurs are preparing to offload Bentaleb, to free up the squad as they look to bring in other midfield targets such as Victor Wanyama from Southampton.

Bentaleb broke into the first team after Tim Sherwood took over as Heach Coach following the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas, and has featured much less regularly recently under Mauricio Pochettino.

The Algerian lost his place in the first team when he picked up an injury, since Eric Dier has occupied the defensive midfield position, who has since cemented his spot in the starting eleven and in the England squad.

With Belgian Mousa Dembele being on form and Ryan Mason being preferred to Bentaleb, first team minutes have been very limited for the 21-year-old.

For me, the midfielder was very unfortunate to lose his first team spot when he picked up an injury, but you cannot argue with the lads that have replaced him and how they have performed. It would be good for squad depth to hand onto Bentaleb, but if the plan is to sign higher quality defensive midfielders, then unfortunately, I see no place in the setup for Nabil Bentaleb.