According to the Mirror, Tottenham are looking to offload some of their out-of-favour stars in January to freshen up the squad. Mauricio Pochettino has no issues with the likes of Victor Wanyama, Vincent Janssen, Mousa Dembele and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou departing the club in the mid-season trading period. (h/t Mirror)
This should set alarm bells ringing among some of the mid-table clubs in the Premier League, including Cardiff City. After a successful season in the Championship last term which saw the Bluebirds secure promotion to the top flight, Neil Warnock’s side have found life really difficult in the Premier League.
Warnock’s men did register their first win of the season against Fulham a couple of weeks back but that change things much for the Wales-based club. Going by their performances so far in the Premier League, they are in real danger of facing the drop this time around and will have to bolster their squad in January if they are to compete at the highest level.
To put things into perspective, Vincent Janssen is one of the few strikers in the Premier League who might be available for sale in January. The 24-year-old Dutchman made his move to the Premier League in 2016 after a hugely successful season in the Eredivisie with AZ Alkmaar where he netted a whopping 27 goals.
He was one of the first names on the teamsheet in his debut season in the Premier League but the Dutchman wasn’t able to replicate his prolific goalscoring form for the Lilywhites. As a result, he was sent out on loan to Turkish club Fenerbahce in the following season where he had a decent run, scoring 5 goals from 17 appearances across all competitions. Janssen is yet to make an appearance this term after suffering a minor foot injury early in the season.
Failure to find the net has been the major cause of Cardiff’s undoing this season. The strikers and the attacking midfielders have looked badly out of touch and as a result, the Bluebirds have managed to score only 9 goals from their first ten games. Furthermore, they have a goal difference of -14, which could prove to be a deciding factor when the relegation battle goes down to the wire towards the fag end of the campaign.
Callum Paterson has perhaps been the silver lining in Cardiff’s otherwise lacklustre campaign so far and the Scottish international delivered a man of the match performance against Fulham to propel the Bluebirds to their first win of the season. However, Kenneth Zohore and Danny Ward have failed to live up to the expectations. Junior Hoilett, who was supposed to be one of the mainstays of Cardiff’s attack this season, has been out of form this season, much to the disappointment of the fans.
As evident from their performances so far, the Bluebirds lack a good target man up front to hold the ball and link-up the play to get the attacking midfielders into the game. And that is exactly why Vincent Janssen could prove to be an excellent signing for Neil Warnock.
Standing at just a shade over 6ft., Vincent Janssen is a centre-forward blessed with good physicality who is capable of holding the ball effectively which would allow the likes of Junior Hoilett and Josh Murphy to get into scoring positions from the wide areas. Furthermore, the Dutchman has good awareness in front of goal and gets himself into the right areas and at the right time to meet the crosses. In fact, he is a clinical finisher with both feet and is a good reader of the game in the air, making him a genuine threat from set pieces.
That said, Cardiff should definitely table a bid for the Dutchman in January. Given that he has found regular minutes hard to come in recent times, it should not be an uphill task for the Bluebirds to prise him away from north London. Granted, he has proven himself to be a massive flop at Tottenham but he definitely has the quality to save the Bluebirds from relegation.