Signing Batshuayi and Janssen Would Give Tottenham World-Class Attack

Tottenham Hotspur are poised to kick off their summer transfer action with a double deal that will launch them into the top echelon of European sides.

According to the Times (via Mark Brus of Metro), Michy Batshuayi and Vincent Janssen are set to agree to join Mauricio Pochettino's side from Olympique Marseille and AZ Alkmaar respectively.

The Times is a reputable source of football news, and Spurs' interest in both Batshuayi and Janssen has been heavily reported throughout the first weeks of this offseason. 

If Tottenham complete both transfers, they would raise their attacking options to a comparable level with all but the true elite of Champions League contenders. 

The variety available to Pochettino would allow him to adapt his lineup to the opposition's strengths and have full confidence in his options from the substitutes' bench. 

Batshuayi has rare pace and a willingness to take risks in possession, while Janssen has great physical strength and plays a classic No. 9's game. 

Harry Kane is already England's best centre-forward, so it may seem odd to invest heavily in new strikers. But one of Pochettino's most important tasks is to get the best out of Kane. 

The signings of Janssen and Batshuayi would allow him to continue to do that. 

Kane has occasionally been compared to one of his predecessors in the England No. 9 shirt, Alan Shearer. 

His physical strength, height (6'2") and goalscoring record reinforce that idea, but players such as Teddy Sheringham and Francesco Totti, equally capable of scoring or setting up goals for their team-mates, make for a better comparison.

He is a complete player, capable of creating as well as notching goals, but he has occasionally been marked out of games by ultra-defensive opponents. 

That was less of an issue last season than in the previous campaign, but it remains a problem for Tottenham to be so reliant on a single player. 

If the right players are supporting Kane, he could set his sights on a long career as one of Europe's elite forwards. 

Batshuayi and Janssen can be those players. 

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The aforementioned Times report also stated Nacer Chadli will be sold to raise transfer funds. Chadli made 42 appearances in all competitions last season but under half were starts. He averaged just 40 minutes per match and was largely a peripheral player.

A year after being Spurs' second-highest scorer, Chadli managed just seven goals, including a brace against then-League 1 side Colchester United in the FA Cup. 

Chadli does not possess the requisite quality, and his departure, along with the arrivals of Batshuayi and Janssen, would signal a major step forward in the overall standard of the squad. 

Having moved from the Europa League to the Champions League, Spurs would be upgrading their playing staff accordingly. 

Sir Alex Ferguson's best Manchester United teams were built around a quartet of forwards. 

The 1999-99 treble was won with Teddy Sheringham, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as options up top.

Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo took United to 2008-09 title and Champions League final. 

If Tottenham have genuine ambitions of a permanent place among Europe's strongest teams, a comparable arsenal of attacking options is required. 

Clinton Njie was the only back-up forward available last season. He may yet reach his obvious potential, but an unpolished diamond is an insufficient understudy to Kane. 

In combination with Janssen and Batshuayi, Njie and Kane provide a bristling arsenal from which Pochettino can select his attack.

Spurs had the joint-best defence (35 goals conceded) in England last season, and their midfield is as finely balanced as any in Europe. 

A lack of options in attack cost them in key matches, as their valiant assault on Leicester City's impregnable position atop the Premier League fell short. 

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Spurs need this strength in depth with a new domestic title challenge and Champions League football in the coming season. 

Last time Tottenham qualified for the Europe's top competition, they failed to adequately strengthen their squad and, despite an impressive run to the quarter-finals, dropped back out again. 

These are the right moves to solidify Spurs' position in England's top four and mount a sustained challenge in continental competition.

That is the objective of this transfer window, and should these rumours prove accurate, Tottenham would have given themselves the best chance of improving as they stride forward into the elite.