Vincent Janssen at Royal Antwerp: How the Dutch striker has played his way back into World Cup contention – scout report

During his sole season at AZ Alkmaar at the beginning of his senior career, Vincent Janssen was seen as one of the next big prospects in Dutch football. In his sole season in Alkmaar, the Dutch striker netted 27 times in 34 games, which earned him his big money move the following summer to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of around £17 million. Janssen became AZ’s record player sale as a result, but his time in England was far from successful. A move to Mexico followed, with Janssen now landing in Belgium with Royal Antwerp where he has had a great start to the season. 

His form for Antwerp has also earned him a recall to the Dutch national team, with former Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal calling the striker up for the recent UEFA Nations League matches against Wales and Belgium. This tactical analysis and scout report will analyse Janssen’s strengths, and show why he has a legitimate shot of making the Dutch squad for the World Cup in Qatar next month. 

Player profile 

The heat map above shows the positions that Vincent Janssen tends to find himself in while playing for Antwerp. Under former Bayern Munich player Mark van Bommel, Antwerp have tended to line up in a 4-2-3-1, with Janssen playing up top as the sole striker. However, as we can see, Janssen tends to be involved in all areas of the attacking half of the pitch for the Belgian side, showing that he does more than just score goals for his side. 

This is able to illustrate how Janssen is not just a penalty box striker, rather, he will move off the ball and find spaces where he can gather possession. Though he does not have any assists for Antwerp this season, he is still very much of an all around striker, as this scout report will show. 

Link up play 

As we mentioned earlier, Vincent Janssen is not just a penalty box striker. The heat map from this season was also able to illustrate this, with the Dutch striker very good at dropping deep into midfield and linking up play. So far this season, Janssen is averaging 23.27 passes per 90 minutes, with an impressive 80.2% success rate.