Surprise! Vincent Janssen handed spot in Spurs’ first team after close of transfer window

The transfer window closed at 11 p.m. UK time last night, and Vincent Janssen was still a member of Tottenham Hotspur. Despite a number of links connecting him with loan moves to places like Real Betis, Schalke, Cardiff, and even (lol) West Ham, the Dutch striker did not get the move he needed to continue his football career.

Well, that’s it then, right? Back to the U23s until summer? MAYBE NOT. Mauricio Pochettino came out with the biggest twist since Bruce Willis turned out to be dead the whole time, stating in a press conference this morning that Janssen is being brought in from the cold and will be registered for the Premier League for the final half of the season.

“You know very well my position, I told you in the past. In the same way we have two free places with N’Koudou and Demeble leaving. He will be on the list and involved. That is my decision that he will be involved with the first team from today.

“I think [he was left out] for different reasons but the principal reason is one year we decided to send on loan and then the last year he didn’t play, but I think now we need to try find solution because he wanted to leave and club wanted to provide another place to play football, but that was impossible.

“I think the most important thing now is to treat him because he’s a person and my responsibility is to manage people, not sofas or chairs and from today he will be involved with the first team, try to get fit and he is going to be one more on the squad.”

Well, that’s... unexpected. And magnanimous, kinda? And also unexpected. Frankly, it’s almost a complete 180º turn from what was Poch’s position only a couple of weeks ago, when he snapped at a reporter that Janssen was “not in [his] plans.”

But if you think this means that we might see Janssen in a Premier League match, I highly, HIGHLY doubt it. Frankly, I think the only reason he gets one now is because there are two roster spots open, and Poch has shipped Kazaiah Sterling off on loan to Sunderland. It implies that Janssen is still WELL behind in the pecking order — this makes it sound like he was already behind Sterling — and the window for a Janssen appearance is almost vanishingly small. Once Harry Kane returns from injury all hope is lost, and even with Kane out he’s still behind at least Fernando Llorente and Son Heung-Min. Frankly, I still think we’d see Troy Parrott getting minutes out there before we see Vincent Janssen.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so — football.london reporter Alasdair Gold said something similar on Twitter last night.

Poch also reiterated that just because he has a number doesn’t mean he’s thrown back into the matchday squad. It also hints that Janssen wanting to leave was a big reason why he was not part of Poch’s plans.

“No, [he won’t be in the matchday squad], he needs to train to be involved We need to communicate with team mates and captains and we had a conversation this morning and tell him he will be involved in the first team.

“Before it was clear because he wanted to leave and the plan was our plan, but now when you cannot achieve what you want it’s important that he feels again that he can be healthy for the club and try to get him fit to help us.”

So hooray for Thicc Vin! It’s a small personal victory perhaps, but he’ll certainly be back in the transfer market when the window opens up again this summer.