Micky van de Ven has watched a lot of Tottenham since his younger days and had no doubts about joining the North London club after he spoke with Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs agreed a fee of £43m including add-ons for Van de Ven, which is quite considerable for a player who has only had one full season at the highest level.
WOLFSBURG, GERMANY – OCTOBER 29: Micky van de Ven of VfL Wolfsburg reacts during the Bundesliga match between VfL Wolfsburg and VfL Bochum 1848 at Volkswagen Arena on October 29, 2022 in Wolfsburg, Germany. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
However, the centre-back looks like an inspired signing already, having delivered a flawless performance in his debut against Brentford.
Van de Ven has now admitted that the kind of attacking football Postecoglou wants to play was one of his main motivations for joining the Lilywhites.
When asked why he gave the green light to the move, the 22-year-old told Football.London: “Because it’s an amazing club. I had a good meeting with the trainer and it was a really good meeting, as what I said already in an interview.
“He’s a really good trainer, I love the club, I love the players and I think there is so much potential under this trainer so we will see where this season heads.
“He [Postecoglou] has a good view on football, that’s what I think. Attacking football is what I love, playing with a lot of space in the back doesn’t matter for me.
“Offensive football is what I like and I think if we play a lot of offensive football and we train, we train, we train then I think we can do some beautiful things.”
Van de Ven grew up watching Spurs and Vertonghen
Van de Ven admitted that he watched quite a bit of Spurs from a younger age, particularly since many of the Eredivisie’s biggest stars have made the switch to the Premier League side over the years.
He continued: “I watched Spurs a lot of times because a lot of players from Ajax also went to Spurs and also players from Holland.
“Always when you see a player go to Spurs it is an amazing step if you went from Ajax, AZ, PSV to Spurs. Of course with the history they didn’t win a prize for a long time but you never know what it is going to happen.”
Some Spurs fans are understandably already drawing parallels between Van de Ven and club legend Jan Vertonghen, given the Dutchman’s demeanour and his calmness in possession.
When asked about the comparisons to the Belgian, the former Wolfsburg star said: “To be honest, I was always in the stadium when Jan Vertonghen was playing for Ajax so I always saw him play and always said he was a good left-footed centre-back.
“Of course, I learned some from him as I watched videos of him, so of course I learned from him.”
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It is noticeable that nearly every single one of Tottenham’s summer signings has spoken about their conversation with Ange being crucial in convincing them to make the move to the club.
The Australian’s excellent communications have evidently already come in handy for the club in the transfer market.
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