For years, Tottenham Hotspur struggled to bring in a centre-forward capable of playing second fiddle to the club's first-choice number nine, Harry Kane.

Indeed, over the last ten years, Spurs have spent around £115m on the likes of Roberto Soldado, Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente, Carlos Vinicius and Richarlison - with all but the latter having largely failed to make much of an impact at Spurs.

However, while a return of six goals and four assists over 42 appearances for Tottenham was not exactly form that would have convinced Mauricio Pochettino to keep faith in his ability, Janssen is finally proving exactly why the Argentine parted with around £18.6m in order to bring him to north London back in the summer of 2016.

After bagging 24 goals over 94 fixtures during a three-year spell with Mexican side CF Monterrey, Royal Antwerp parted with around £5m in order to bring the 28-year-old back to Europe this summer - and the Belgian side's investment already appears to have paid off, with the striker thriving for Mark van Bommel's outfit.

Indeed, over his nine Jupiler Pro League appearances - only five of which have come as starts - so far this season, the £4.05m-rated forward has been in exceptional form, having already scored six goals, registered one assist and created one big chance, in addition to taking an average of 2.0 shots - 55% of which have hit the target - making 0.9 key passes and winning 3.9 duels - at a success rate of 52% - per game.

These returns have seen the striker average a rather remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.36, not only ranking him as Van Bommel's second-best performer in the league but also as the joint seventh-best player in the Belgian top flight as a whole so far this season - playing a key role in his side's current top of the table standing.

However, it has not only been at club level that Janssen has been catching the eye, as the 28-year-old has once again become a regular in the Netherlands side in recent months, registering two assists in three appearances for Louis van Gaal's side - putting himself in contention for a spot at the Qatar World Cup this winter.

And, in an interview with Dutch outlet FC Update back in June, Tottenham legend Rafael van der Vaart heaped a considerable amount of praise on the centre-forward, stating: "I think he has done insanely well. He is probably a mega star in Mexico, but we don't get that. That makes sense. I am happy with what he has shown today. He keeps the ball with him, has good technique and we know he can score a goal."

As such, despite his below-par returns in north London, the 18-cap international is finally beginning to show Spurs what they missed out on, and could even start an argument that Pochettino's decision to cash in on the 28-year-old for around $7m (£6.5m) back in 2019 - £12.1m less than the £18.6m Tottenham paid for his services - was something of a mistake by the Argentine.