Spurs flop who Poch sold for just £8m is now outscoring Richarlison

Submitted by daniel on
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It's been an interesting few years for Tottenham Hotspur.

Just a couple of seasons ago, the fans were being subjected to incredibly dull and pragmatic football at the hands of Antonio Conte, and now they are being entertained by the thrilling, albeit occasionally naive, football philosophy of Ange Postecoglou.

The North Londoners produced the sixth-highest expected goals figure in the Premier League last season, per Understat, and with the addition of Dominic Solanke, we wouldn't be surprised to see them rack up even more chances this year.

However, the Englishman has already missed two games this season and should he miss anymore, the goalscoring burden will likely fall to Richarlison, who has shown glimpses of real quality here and there but was outscored by a former Spurs flop last season.

Richarlison's recent form

Spurs paid Everton around £60m in the summer of 2022 to secure Richarlison's services, and in the two years since, it would be fair to say that he hasn't had the best of times.

In his first season with the club, the Brazilian international could only muster up a measly return of three goals and four assists in 35 appearances, meaning he maintained a poor average of a goal involvement once every five games.

However, following Harry Kane's departure last summer, the Nova Venécia-born poacher was given more goalscoring responsibility, and to his credit, he improved upon the previous campaign.

For example, in his 31 matches for Postecoglu, he scored 12 goals and provided four assists, so while he wasn't a goalscoring machine, he did maintain a far more impressive average of a goal involvement every 1.93 games. That said, while Richarlison improved, he was still outscored by a former Spurs flop who left the club five years ago.

Vincent Janssen's 23/24

The player in question is Dutch striker Vincent Janssen, who regularly features in the lists dedicated to Tottenham's worst signings under Daniel Levy.

The Heesch-born poacher joined the North Londoners in the summer of 2016 from Eredivise side AZ Alkmaar for around £19m.

While that might seem like a lot of money for a player who struggled as much as he did, it's because in the season prior, he racked up a frankly ridiculous haul of 32 goals and seven assists in 49 games, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 1.25 games.

However, things didn't work out for him in N17, and he left the club three years later to join Mexican giants Monterrey for £8m, with just six goals, four assists, 42 appearances and one loan spell in Turkey under his belt.

In Mexico, the 22-capped international scored 24 goals and provided five assists in 93 appearances. While that's not exactly spectacular, it was enough to earn him a move back to Europe in 2022 to play for Belgian side Royal Antwerp, where he won the league in his first campaign.

Janssen maintained his reasonable form into last season and racked up 17 goals and six assists, just beating Richarlison's total. However, the caveat here is that the Jupiler Pro League is obviously not on the same level as the Premier League.

Ultimately, while Janssen has gone on to rediscover his goalscoring touch in Mexico and Belgium, Tottenham were certainly in the right to sell him when they did, and it was in the best interest of everyone.