Roberto De Zerbi was crucial in Jan Paul van Hecke signing for Tottenham Hotspur, describing him as his ‘son’ when Johan Lange broached the prospect of pursuing his signature earlier this year.
But before Van Hecke was considered part of the Italian’s family, he was something of a problem student.
“At the beginning, (we argued) because he had such a way of playing, and I needed to get used to it,” Van Hecke says, reflecting on their time spent together at Brighton & Hove Albion between 2022 and 2024. “Sometimes you’re getting out of playing, and then sometimes you’re arguing over some things.”
Van Hecke spent the 2021-22 season on loan at Blackburn Rovers, where he earned their player of the year award and was considered one of the best defenders in the Championship. He might have expected to be competing for a starting spot immediately at Brighton the following term, De Zerbi’s first in charge after replacing Graham Potter in the September, but as he mentions, it took a while for the newcomer to trust him.
After an uncomfortable teething period, Van Hecke broke into the team in the latter part of that season, earning his first league start in a 2-2 draw with Leicester City in the January after impressing in a 5-1 away win against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup earlier that month. He remained a bit-part player as Brighton marched to a club-record sixth-placed finish and Europa League qualification, but established himself in the 2023-24 campaign.
Having started out at each other’s throats, Van Hecke was one of De Zerbi’s favourites in his second season.
He described the Dutchman as a “great player”, who had made an “incredible” and “surprise” development into a key starter, and one of the Premier League’s brightest centre-back prospects.
While De Zerbi was, and is often, keen to credit his rapid progress to the player, Van Hecke laid the plaudits at his coach’s door. When De Zerbi left Brighton in the summer of 2024, he wrote on Instagram, “Gaffer, thank you very much! You changed my life! I’m really thankful for what you did for me. I’m really upset you are leaving.”
Having “changed (his) life”, to quote Van Hecke, it’s no wonder Tottenham stole a march on London rivals Chelsea to secure his signature this summer — demonstrating the sheer pulling power of their magnetic coach.
“But I think that’s a nice thing in football,” Van Hecke continues. “In the end, the manager wants the best, and the player wants the best, and then you push each other to the next level.
“We still speak about it sometimes now. He’s joking about it, like, ‘Do you remember our first few months?’ And then you see what happens.”
While De Zerbi may have added the final flourish, this was a deal Tottenham had been working on long before his appointment in late March. Van Hecke was identified as a priority target for this window last summer, with Spurs alert to an attractive market opportunity as his contract entered its final 12 months.
Sporting director Lange went to Amsterdam in March, between the 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and the 1-1 draw against Liverpool a few days later, to progress discussions with his agent.
Much of the potential transfer hinged on whether Spurs stayed in the Premier League, which they eventually confirmed with a 1-0 win over Everton on the campaign’s final day.
But before they did, Van Hecke was at the heart of the action as Tottenham drew 2-2 with Brighton in the second of De Zerbi’s seven games in charge. It was his error in possession that led to countryman Xavi Simons putting Spurs ahead in the second half, but he made up for his mistake in the dying minutes of stoppage time, assisting for Georginio Rutter to equalise and drain the life out of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium crowd.
Van Hecke describes the events leading up to his signing as a “funny story” that they can “have a laugh about”.
In an interview with a group of reporters, including The Athletic, De Zerbi said the defender was the second person, after his daughter, that he texted in his office after that Everton match, telling him, “now you have to come to me, yes or yes, you have no choice!”
De Zerbi is also adamant that Tottenham’s work in the current window is only about “60 per cent” done, with a focus on adding one or two high-profile attacking signings. Being one of several major additions this summer was another thing that attracted Van Hecke to the project in north London, with midfielders Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes following him through the door for combined fees of up to £185million.
“That’s what the club said to me,” he says. “You’re one of them, and of course it’s also nice that you’re the first one, or one of the first ones. And they say there will be more signings, more good players, then you see other players coming as well. So that’s a really good thing.
“(Fernandes and Tonali) are top-quality players, Premier League-proven players, talented players. And on top of that, we already have some good players, a lot of good players here. I think that could be a real combination.”
No doubt one of the players whom he is excited to play alongside is Micky van de Ven, one of his closest friends in football. Ten months separate the centre-back duo, who often played together in the Netherlands’ age-group sides, with a ready-made bond fostered during the recent World Cup and on regular coffee outings in Sydney during pre-season. And while Van de Ven has typically been a left-back under Ronald Koeman at international level, they should have no issues getting up to speed as a central partnership in the Premier League.
“I’m really good friends with Micky,” he says. “Even before the transfer was made, we always spoke about football and the club. He already told me that it’s an amazing club. When I came here, I could see straight away from the first day that this is a really big club, and I can’t wait to start in the Premier League.
“(Playing as a centre-back pair) is what we did in the under-21s. So that’s already years ago, we played together as a couple. Now I hope to play as many games with him, and hopefully it can be a really good partnership.”
They were accompanied on a trip to Sydney’s Bondi Beach by James Maddison, a leader in the group at Tottenham who unites the natural (first language, age, positional) sects of the dressing room. Characters such as Maddison make it easier, as does Van de Ven, who has assumed a larger leadership role in the past 12 months, and Van Hecke has had no problems fitting in with the wider group so far.
“(They’re) really good guys,” he says. “Really open and tried to help me straight away from the first minute. I felt, straight away, welcome. Of course I’m a bit used to the English culture, and I know how it works. I know the Premier League. It’s not totally new, but of course a new club, new faces, new players, new staff. Everyone has been great so far, and I just can’t wait to now get started.”
And if De Zerbi can deliver on the training pitch, it won’t just be new faces at Tottenham in the coming months, but an entirely new way of playing.
When he arrived late last season, the 47-year-old focused on shifting the club’s mindset from the top down, telling staff members he would immediately send them home if they were negative. This summer, it’s all about implementing De Zerbi-ball.
There were flashes in the 2-1 pre-season win against Chelsea in Sydney on Saturday of the possession-heavy style with the ball and an aggressive approach without it, and Van Hecke, who knows it from Brighton, suggests Spurs fans can look forward to excitement and domination.
“It’s attacking-style football,” he says. “Try to dominate teams, play out from the back, and score a lot of goals. I think you saw in his former teams that they scored a lot of goals. I think it’s exciting to watch. Of course, there’s a lot of work to do, because to play that kind of football you need a lot of work on the training pitch. That’s what we’re doing now. I think: so far, so good.
“Obviously we’ve improved, but we have a really strong team and really good managers. I think that could be a really good combination this season.”