Vincent Janssen – The future firepower for Oranje? |

AZ Alkmaar striker Vincent Janssen is currently one of the brightest talents in the Eredivisie and his rise to the top of the league will have caught the attentions of a lot of people in football. He has been compared to Ruud van Nistelrooy and many have talked about him as being a big part of the future for the National side. Although it is important to not get carried away, Janssen’s start to 2016 has been incredible and he has scored as many league goals as Lionel Messi with ten says Jake Jackman.

His battle to get where he is has faced its setbacks, as he was released from the Feyenoord academy in 2013 and could have disappeared off the scene. However, the forward joined Almere City in the Jupiler League and scored 29 goals in 69 matches for the club. It isn’t an incredible goal return, but he grew with experience and started to stand out in terms of his overall contribution. Fred Grim, who worked with the forward at Almere City, had no doubts about Janssen’s ability to step up to the Dutch top flight and he has been proved correct. The forward is now second in the goal chart, only to the experienced Luuk de Jong, and could surpass the PSV forward if he continues this rich vein of form.

It was a match just a few weeks ago where Janssen really put his name on the map and went from a good striker, to one who could push on for better things. He returned to former club Feyenoord and ran riot, with one of the best striking displays seen in Holland this season. Feyenoord still had an outside chance of joining the title race, but the movement and clinical finishing of Janssen heaped misery on the club who released him as a youth player. He scored a hat-trick and was ‘Man of the Match’ on the day. AZ have showed themselves as a team on the rise, and Janssen is at the apex of that.

The Dutch national side is going through a period of upheaval and there will be temptations to get rid a lot of the older players and build a team of younger players, like both Spain and Germany have done in recent times. If they do opt to do that, Janssen is the prime candidate to be the forward, as he has all the characteristics to be a top forward.

Although he is not the tallest (5ft 11), he is capable in the air, but he is strongest with the ball at his feet. His nimble footwork allows him to beat defenders, while his coolness in front of goal has played a huge part in his good run. He has emerged as one of the best finishers in the league. Furthermore his movement and awareness in the final third are those of a player who can continue his goalscoring form and can grow in the sport.

Holland have a lot of good young players coming through. Memphis Depay, Anwar El Ghazi, Riechedly Bazoer and Jetro Willems are already well known, but you can know add Vincent Janssen to that list and it will be intriguing to follow his career over the next 18 months.