Tottenham have reportedly discussed a plan to try and wade Real Madrid off defender Micky van de Ven, who has attracted interest from the Spanish giants following his impressive performances in the Premier League. The Dutch centre-back has four years left on his contract in north London, but concerns have been raised about his future at Spurs.
Real Madrid had also been linked with Van de Ven’s defensive partner, Cristian Romero, but the Argentine snubbed their interest and penned a new contract. He also became the new Spurs captain, taking over from Son Heung-min.
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According to TBR Football, Spurs are aware that both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are big admirers of Van de Ven, while he is also on the radar of London rivals Chelsea.
In a bid to block any potential transfer, new CEO Vinai Venkatesham is planning to open talks with the 24-year-old over a bumper new contract.
Spurs are willing to more than double his £50,000-a-week salary and believe that Van de Ven’s current deal is way below market value.
One of Venkatesham’s tasks following Daniel Levy’s exit as chairman is renewing contracts. He is also in talks with Rodrigo Bentancur, after being told by Thomas Frank that the Uruguayan midfielder is a key part of his plans.
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Van de Ven and Bentancur wrote themselves into Spurs folklore last season as they starred in the Europa League final win over Manchester United.
Van de Ven has recently opened up on his acrobatic goal-line clearance in Bilbao, which denied Rasmus Hojlund what looked to be a certain equalising goal, after Brennan Johnson had opened the scoring with the only goal of the game.
"To be honest they [fans] keep bringing it up,” Van de Ven said. “Every time when I see a Tottenham fan in the city and they walk up to me they're like, 'thank you so much for the clearance' or 'thank you so much for the trophy' and everything. That's a nice thing where everybody just keeps reminding you.
"For a player when you have the taste of winning a trophy, this feels unbelievable. You just want to do it over again. Especially after last season, all the negative things that came into the team and everything. It was a good thing to win something.
"Now everybody had a taste of it and everybody knows how it feels and I think everybody is now triggered to do it over again."