Micky van de Ven has that winning feeling

Last December, Micky van de Ven went on a solo winning spree – at Winter Wonderland. With giant soft toys up for grabs, Spurs’s 24-year-old Dutch defender was eager to bag as many as his skills could muster. “I went to win, and won three in one night,” says Van de Ven, proudly gesturing to a life-sized Christmas panda elf, a far-larger-than-life sloth and a five-foot banana behind us. “I said to [girlfriend] Sterre, I just wanna go back and fill a room full of them."

Fairground success aside, van de Ven is quick to concede that over the course of the past few months, the “Ws” have been far more difficult to pick up for Ange Postecoglou’s side. Like many of his teammates, Van de Ven – who was the club’s player of the year in 2024 – has endured a stop-start campaign due to various niggling injuries. Despite languishing in 17th place in the Premier League, Spurs have been on a decidedly un-Spursy run to reach the final of the Europa League. With an (almost) fully fit squad, Van de Ven and co are now just one win – against Ruben Amorim’s also well below par Manchester United – away from their first trophy in 17 years.

“If you join Spurs, of course people make jokes that you’re never going to win a trophy. This group of players and staff want to make sure we change this for the fans and the club,” he says, fiddling with one of those £1 IKEA soft footballs. “We’ve had a really tough season, so we want to end positively – for us, and for the fans for how they have supported us this season.”

Eight days out from the biggest game of his career, we catch up with Van de Ven at home to talk about team BBQs, a soon-to-be-acquired real-life furry friend and the story behind wearing number 37 with pride.

GQ: Rumour has it big Ange called a team barbecue for all the team yesterday?

Micky van de Ven: [smiles] To be honest, I think this one was organised by the South American guys [Richarlison, Cristian Romero, Rodrigo Bentancur], then the gaffer said we all needed to go together before the final. We have a nice little area at the training ground [he shows me a picture on his phone], the weather was really nice, and it was beautiful. Everybody went, we had a nice barbecue, a drink and just chatted.

What do you like to do on a day off?

I came from Wolfsburg in Germany and the city isn’t boring, but there's not really much to do. So when I moved to London, the best city in the world, everything opened up for me. I’ll grab my bike [a Super73 e-bike] and drive to Hampstead to grab a coffee over there, or I’ll cycle to Primrose Hill and get some lunch. Most of the time off we get is the day after a game so it's good for the legs to just bike a bit – I like to see what’s around London. I also play video games with my friends from back home – that’s how I keep in contact with them properly.

Given how much the Dutch love bikes, did you learn to cycle before playing football?

No, it was first football. My parents always tell me the moment I started standing as a child, I grabbed something to hold myself and started kicking footballs.

I hear you are about to embark on a new responsibility?

[laughs] My sister has a Labradoodle and my parents have one too. We felt left out, so yeah, we’re going to get one. We really, really like that [breed] and sometimes see [ones] out walking here on the streets so that's how we picked it. It’s gonna be tough because it’s a young puppy but we are ready.

Before you moved to Spurs, were you aware of how big the north London rivalry is between the team and Arsenal?

I always knew it was a big thing but I’m close with [Jurrien] Timber, and I remember when I joined Spurs, he just joined Arsenal and posted a pic from an Arsenal game. I liked it and everybody reacted like, “What are you doing? Why you reacting to him?” Then ahead of my first north London derby, I started feeling the hate they have for each other, so was like, Oh, this is way more big than I thought it was. And to be honest, I like it!

As well as being where you play your home games, the Tottenham Hotspur stadium plays host to everything from Beyoncé to NFL games. Do you get first dibs on tickets?

Yeah, when something else is going on they always say if you can get tickets. The stadium is massive so when people go there for a concert, or a boxing fight like last time, they really think, Hey, this stadium is beautiful. It’s really nice that Spurs can do these types of things. For me, I’ve never been to something else in the stadium – I’ve only been there to play football.

When you were growing up, what did you dream of being in life?

I always wanted to be a football player. Then as I got older, my parents were like, “Yeah, you need to look at something else.” They always believed in me and knew I really wanted to do this, but they also had to be on the other side, telling me, “If it’s not going to work out, you need to do something else, you need to work, and you need to make money.” I was 18 when I got my first contract, so it was quite late. I had said to my dad, “Just give me time, and I will make sure I get a contract.” He gave me a deadline of six months, we made a deal and then exactly six months later, I got the first contract for my first team in Holland.

Your father, Marcel, is very well known in the Netherlands as a detective. Do many of your teammates chat to you about him and your upbringing?

When you get closer to someone, you just talk more about their past and you find out where someone’s from. Some of the South American guys, when they were young, they really struggled with money for their families, so everybody has their own story about how they became the person they are now. I speak a lot to Timo Werner; we share a box now. He knows my dad did some undercover work when he was younger and asks about it, which is nice.

How has your father helped you with your career?

My dad has always helped me with the mental part. He was always the one that kept me pushing and kept saying, “Just keep doing what you’re doing, and always make one step extra, then at the end, everything will work out the way you want to do it.”

You have all your trophies and man of the match awards on show. Why is it important to have them somewhere you can see them?

Every time I look at them I’m like, This is something I did all by myself. You want to get more and more, so it keeps pushing you. This is where all my years have gone, it’s what I’ve been working for – so they keep driving me forwards, hitting even more goals you want to reach in your career.

Were you the kid who used to pretend to lift trophies in the mirror?

Playing in the garden against yourself, you’d always be like, We’re six nil down, then you score seven times in a row and celebrate afterwards. That's the sort of thing I did, childhood dreams – hopefully I can make one happen next week.

You wear number 37 for Spurs. Is there any meaning behind it?

When I was 15 years old, my best friend Dimitri passed away. He was really sick and I always promised to make him proud. He was the person I always played football with so the day before he passed away, I promised him I was going to make sure I became a professional football player. When I made this beautiful transfer to Tottenham Hotspur, they said, “These are the numbers you can pick for your shirt.” Number 37 was there. It was [Dimitri’s] favourite number when he was younger, so straight away I knew 37 had to be my number here.

The last time Spurs reached a European Cup final, chairman Daniel Levy gifted every player an engraved watch. Any sign of there being a repeat of that this year?

In 2019 they were second, so it’s now up to us to make sure that we come first, and then we can see what might happen. I think I will treat myself with something special to always look at it and think, Ah, this is because I reached a European final in my career.

If you don’t mind me saying, you have great teeth, so why the Invisaligns?

[laughs] To be honest, there’s just one tooth at the bottom that I was getting pissed off at but my girlfriend, my family were always like, “Nah, people don't see it.” But when I watch interviews back, the only thing I focus on is that tooth. I went to the dentist, and he was like, “Nah, your teeth are really beautiful,” so I got Invisaligns to make sure that bottom tooth gets fixed.

Pharrell Williams added some mad grills to his Invisalign the other day. Something you might try?

Nah, not for me.

Virgil van Dijk and Arne Slot just became the first Dutchmen to captain and coach a winning Premier League team. You played Liverpool when they became champions, were you chuffed for them?

Yeah, so I walked up to Virgil after the game and said, “Congrats, big achievement – enjoy this day and these weeks that are coming up because you guys deserve it.” What they showed this year was unbelievable. I said the same to [Ryan] Gravenberch, of course and Cody Gakpo – I know them really well. I haven’t spoken to the manager but I spoke to his assistant [Sipke Hulshoff] – I worked with him at my first club [Volendam].

One of the biggest positives of the season has been the understanding you have with Cristian Romero at the back. How have you continued to build that defensive partnership?

Cuti! When I came to the club, everyone called him that so that’s what I call him. Off the pitch, we have a good relationship. We always make jokes about each other but are there for each other all the time too. From day one, we felt [a connection] and what we’ve built over two years is good. It's growing more and more and would be nice to finish off this season with a trophy.

Your manager has endured a pretty rough season and taken a lot of stick. You must be eager to win the Europa League for him as much as anyone?

We want to win for the gaffer, of course. Everyone knows he’s said he always wins things in his second year [at a club]. It’s a nice quote for him and it would make it even more beautiful if we can make it happen! He has been so positive the whole season and made sure that no one ever lets their head down even if we played a terrible game. We never had a feeling that he was giving up on us; he’s always kept pushing us. That’s why at the end of a tough season we still believe we will win.