Tottenham Hotspur have got their hands on a world-class defender in Micky van de Ven, who has taken massive strides since joining the Lilywhites and established himself as one of the better central defenders in all of Europe in a short space of time. The Dutch defender was rather an unknown property when the North Londoners signed him in a deal worth £43 million from Wolfsburg in the summer of 2023.
Premier League heavyweights Liverpool had shown interest in securing his services before Daniel Levy got the job done. Virgil van Dijk alongside Van de Ven in an all-Dutch defence would have been difficult to breach; however, that is only for the Netherlands to enjoy now as Tottenham got him pinned as one of the integral parts of Ange Postecoglou‘s squad.
Former striker reveals Barcelona’s Van de Ven regret
While the Merseyside Reds pondered a move for the 6ft 4ins defender, Spanish giants Barcelona were also considering a move to bring the 23-year-old centre-back to Camp Nou. Former Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic was in Holland scouting Dutch talents when he came across Micky, and he went back to his former employers to plead them into signing the Dutch talent for just €3.5 million, something that the Catalan side refused on.
Speaking in an interview with Cadena Ser, Krkic narrates the whole scenario:
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“They told me that he was growing a lot, so I went to see him at the next match. That same week, they did physical tests in training and it turned out that Van de Ven had a higher speed than Kylian Mbappe!”
“I called them and insisted on Barcelona, because we had him for three and a half million [euros]. [Barcelona failed to sign Van de Ven] due to sporting reasons.”
Flash forward to 2024, and Barcelona might be regretting their decision on letting go of such a brilliant opportunity as they were busy forking around hundreds of millions of euros on players who couldn’t even make two straight passes playing in the Barcelona jersey.
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One club’s loss is another’s gain, and Tottenham are reaping massive dividends by investing in Van de Ven.
