August 8, 2023: Tottenham announces that it has reached an agreement for the transfer of young Micky van de Ven for nearly €50 million. On social networks, the London club attracts an avalanche of mocking, even denigrating comments. The appellation “no-name” (equivalent “unknown” in French) also comes up very often under the publication formalizing the transfer. It must be said, everyone probably has other things to do than watch Wolfsburg and the multi Bundesliga at 3:30 p.m. every Saturday. However, in recent years, it has often become akin to the birth certificate of future stars such as Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland, Christopher Nkunku, Jadon Sancho, Florian Wirtz, and many others. But in England, we are very self-focused and we prefer to call other championships the Farmer’s League.
Three months later, we dare to hope that some English supporters have learned to turn their tongues seven times before reacting hastily. Because since his signing with Spurs, van de Ven has imposed his law on his opponents, whether it is Marcus Rashford or Mohamed Salah. Chin raised, uninhibited, fast despite his slender size (1m93), the 22-year-old defender is weaving his web with method and application in England. It’s simple, since the start of the season, he has been the player most used by the Greek-Australian coach, Ange Postecoglou. With 810 minutes of play in his legs, out of 810 possible, the Dutchman is well ahead of Dejan Kulusevski (732). “Micky is exceptional. He has incredible physical qualities, he matures and learns every day. When he arrived, I told him to do what he knew how to do and that we believed in him. It shows that we were not mistaken.praised his trainer in recent days.
He was very close to a transfer to OM
If today he is in the heyday of Tottenham, sensation and leader of the Premier League, van de Ven could nevertheless have worn the Marseille jersey. Two years ago, while he was still playing at Volendam, in the Batavian second division, the left-hander represented by the late Mino Raiola, was one of Pablo Longoria’s priorities. Later, he gave the precise reasons for this aborted transfer: “Marseille is also a very big club. I received a call and then I took the plane with my father. So I saw Marseille as an option, but they did not agree with Volendam on the amount.he declared to the media VoetbalPrimer. It was therefore ultimately under the orders of his elder and compatriot Mark van Bommel that he cut his teeth at Wolfsburg. If there were any questions about his ease in adapting to the demands of the Premier League this summer, in particular because of his young age and his lack of references on the continental scene (0 Coupe de France matches). Europe under his belt), van de Ven broke the glass ceiling.
Last weekend against Luton (0-1), it was he who gave victory to Tottenham by scoring the only goal of the match on a serve from the irresistible James Maddison. Despite Bissouma’s expulsion just before the break, he kept his team afloat with several firefighting interventions to keep his clean sheet once again. Very appreciated by the supporters who adopted him as a kid of the club, van de Ven was also entitled to a song in his honor after the match: “Whoa big Mickey van de Ven… He’s Tall and fast, van de Ven… You won’t get past van de Ven” (Oh huge van de Ven, it’s big and fast, van de Ven, you won’t pass it, van de Ven). If he has not yet launched any of his own, Ronald Koeman is not indifferent to the player’s start to the season. For the first time in his career, van de Ven was called up to the A’s in October as part of qualifying for Euro 2024. And from Friday, he could move into another dimension by making his debut… against the team from France (8:45 p.m.). There are worse baptisms of fire.
