MELBOURNE, Australia - Tottenham Hotspur new boy Vincent Janssen has revealed he nearly quit football after failing to make the grade at Feyenoord.
Janssen spent three years with the Dutch giants but was released in 2013, aged 19, and dropped down to the Dutch second tier with minnows Almere City FC.
After two seasons at Almere, he returned to the Eredivisie and finished top scorer in the division in his only season with AZ Alkmaar, bagging 27 goals in 34 appearances last term to earn a £17 million summer move to Spurs.
The Dutch international, who scored against England at Wembley in March, admits his rapid rise has been "crazy" but says he nearly decided against continuing as a footballer.
"I had to make a decision: am I going to go for the football or make another choice," Janssen said in Melbourne, ahead of Spurs' match against Juventus in the International Champions Cup on Tuesday.
"When you play in the Dutch second division, it's not like you can live off that for your whole life. I said to myself: 'I'm going to invest, I'm going to try it one more time.' And I got a really good club, a really good coach and pushed myself.
"It's gone crazily fast. It's happened. I always trusted myself. I said to myself: 'Ok, I'm going for it now and I'm going to do everything for it and if it's not going work, I can say I did everything for it.' It was going very well at Almere City, so I could make a big step in two years.
"I liked football too much to quit it, but at that moment it was now or never. And if it wasn't going to be what I wanted, I had to make a choice. I said to myself: "One time more I'm going to give everything for it", and you can see what can happen.
"My feeling at Feyenoord was not that good. I never felt really comfortable. Feyenoord made a choice at that moment and I made a choice to go on. Sometimes, it not always going how you want it to go is helpful.
"I was not feeling comfortable there, so I had to fight for myself. That's what I learned there. Sometimes when it doesn't go well, you have to fight. So that's what I did.
"The past has happened and you have to look to the future. You have to go on, and that's what I'm telling myself every game. To play a good game every game, you have to stay there again. I don't look back on history. I want to look forward to the future."
Janssen turned down interest from Paris Saint-Germain, West Ham and Wolfsburg to move to North London and he says a conversation with manager Mauricio Pochettino convinced him that Spurs were the right club.
"When I was first in Tottenham at the [training] facilities, my conversation with the coach was very good. For me, the choice was easy. I always think to myself that I have to do choices by 100 percent, and for me it was a 100 percent choice. My feeling was good. It was easy. After a lot of conversations with the club, I know where I want to go," he revealed.
"Of course, I liked the club before. I've watched games -- White Hart Lane has a crazy atmosphere, it's fantastic to play there. The Dutch people at the club who played there before were fantastic -- [Edgar] Davids, [Rafael] Van der Vaart. The thing I remember most about Tottenham is when Van der Vaart played for them in the Champions League. In Holland, people follow Tottenham Hotspur. I like the club very much.
"I'm enjoying it very much. The group is very good for me. They've helped me a lot. For me, everything is going very well. For me, London is okay -- I've settled in, so it's perfect. I really enjoy the club.
"I'm living near the training ground -- it was important to stay there. I'm over with my girlfriend. We live together. For her, it is also a new experience. It's a new start for me and everyone who is close to me."
Janssen's mother Annemarie was a professional swimmer, who become the sport's first Dutch world champion, in the 200m freestyle, under her maiden name Verstappen and was crowned sportswoman of the year.
"She gave me a lot of discipline, like how to handle being a top sportsman: sleep early, eat well and all of that stuff. My father as well. They were good teachers for me," Janssen added.