Former Tottenham striker Vincent Janssen has admitted he couldn’t say no to a move to the club, but it probably came too soon for him in retrospect.
The striker was a €19.8m signing from AZ Alkmaar back in 2016, with Spurs paying relatively big to add competition for Harry Kane to the squad.
His time at the club proved to be a disappointment, though, as he managed just six goals and four assists in 42 games before leaving permanently last year.
Indeed, the Tottenham spell proved to be a real low for the striker, who spent two years on loan in Turkey before a move to Monterrey last year, looking to get things back on track.
He now admits it probably came too soon but says the move was impossible for him to turn down at the time.
“Tottenham was standing at the door and to say ‘no’ to that as a 21-year-old is hard,” he told Voetbal Zone.
“In retrospect, the step might have been too big, but staying in the Netherlands wouldn’t have been possible because the top Dutch clubs couldn’t meet the transfer fee.
“In the end, I played quite a lot in my first season in the Premier League, and of course I should have played more, but I went from Almere City to Tottenham in eleven months.
“There I was alone on the pitch among all those big names. For the first time, I had to deal with setbacks, and those are all things that are quite difficult for a young boy.”
While adapting to a new and very different way of life proved difficult for Janssen at Tottenham, it was not all bad.
Things were difficult on a sporting level but that year saw him making friends with the other Dutch speakers, such as Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen, to name but two.
That helped him somewhat, and he says he’s remained in touch with the players, despite them all having gone different ways.
“They have been very important to me and during that time I have learned how to deal with disappointments,” he added.
“It’s hard to put that off when you come home at night. Nowadays I can put that much better in perspective, so it has been a good experience.
“I also just had a great time at Tottenham. I only had to play football, and it was also not a great success at Fenerbahçe, so then you look further to see what suits you and what feels good.”
