Former Chelsea man Ruud Gullit has lavished praise on one Tottenham man, admitting that he saw a bit of himself in the player when he first caught a glimpse of him.
Tottenham Hotspur had one of the worst defences in the Premier League across the 2024-25 season, conceding 65 goals across the 38-game campaign.
However, that does not tell the whole story as the Lilywhites were a much more formidable outfit defensively when Micky van de Ven started alongside Cristian Romero in the heart of their defence.
That was demonstrated in Tottenham’s march to the Europa League trophy, with Ange Postecoglou’s men keeping clean sheets away at Eintracht Frankfurt and Bodo/Glimt as well as in the final against Man United.
Ruud Gullit is a big fan of Tottenham’s Micky Van de Ven
Van de Ven arguably delivered the moment of the final, with his acrobatic goalline clearance ensuring that the Lilywhites saw off the 1-0 win.
Gullit has now admitted that he is a big fan of the Netherlands international, revealing that he saw a bit of himself in the Spurs man when he saw him as a youngster.
The Dutch legend told Voetbal Primeur about Van de Ven: “The first time I saw him, I recognised myself because I always played defender too. He always went forward and was very fast.
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“I thought he was a good footballer, but I didn’t expect it to go so fast either. He’s very fast, big, strong, so he already had all the ingredients to become very good.”
Spurs have to improve if they want to keep Van de Ven
There are already heavy rumours suggesting that Cristian Romero could be on his way to Atletico Madrid this summer.
There have also been some suggestions over recent months that Van de Ven is on Real Madrid’s radar, but those rumours have died down a bit over the last two months and it appears that the Dutchman is set to stay for the time being.
However, if Tottenham have another poor season in the Premier League, many big clubs around Europe will eye a move for Van de Ven, and it might become very difficult for the North Londoners to hang onto the 24-year-old over the subsequent transfer windows.