It has been a topsy-turvy year at Tottenham Hotspur, with Micky van de Ven lifting the lid on a memorable but ever-changing year at Spurs.
In 2025, Spurs have ended a 17-year trophy drought by winning the Europa League, finished 17th in the Premier League - with Ange Postecoglou and Daniel Levy also leaving the club in dramatic circumstances.
And under a new era of Thomas Frank, the situation at Spurs remains complex.
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, filmed before Spurs' game with Crystal Palace, Van de Ven discusses:
Winning the Europa League and changing the trophyless culture at Spurs
What Thomas Frank is really like in the Spurs changing room
Becoming part of Spurs' leadership group under Frank
His goal of the season contender against FC Copenhagen
Spurs' 'unacceptable' home form with just 15 points won in 2025
What Spurs' realistic aims are before the end of the season
On his highlight of 2025…
Winning the Europa League was a massive moment in my year. It's the biggest moment of my career so far.
When I joined Spurs, everybody says: 'you're never going to win something. You're never going to win silverware. You're never going to win something'. Everyone just banters you about this.
Even under the social media comments, when they people heard I had interest from Tottenham, everybody was on it.
My friend is a Liverpool fan and I'm so close with him. When he said it to me, I just kept it in my mind the whole time. I said to him: 'don't worry, I'm going to change it.'
Luckily with the group we had, we changed it. And my friend was there at the Europa League final, in the crowd and he was as happy as I was!
Sometimes people still come up to me and say: thank you for the goal-line clearance. It keeps in people's mind the whole time.
My father has a photo of it, my mother has one, but I don't have one myself.
On Thomas Frank replacing Ange Postecoglou…
You always need to adapt a bit. There's a new gaffer coming in with his new style and his ideas. There are little switches you need to make and in pre-season, you know the tactics, training and even the bits in the training ground are going to be different.
At the beginning, you need to get used to it a bit. I have a good connection with him. He helps me out on the pitch a lot and at times, he asks something from us from my side. Just like opinions on how I saw the match or the training session.
He's a really kind man to everyone in the training ground. When he talks about the chefs, the medical staff, everyone, he's so kind and wants to make sure the environment is really good. He's a really kind man, loves a joke as well.
On becoming part of Spurs' leadership group this year…
It's not something day-to-day, being a part of Spurs' leadership group, but sometimes when there are little problems or some things need to get solved, you get the leadership group together and talk about it.
Thomas came in and he wanted to see how every player worked in the pre-season and how everyone was in the squad, then he decided the leadership group and I was part of it.
It's a really proud feeling being the first player to walk out of that tunnel sometimes.
On his 'Puskas contender' goal vs Copenhagen…
As a centre-back, you want to score goals as well and you want to be important for the team. Last season, I scored only one goal and it was the last game of the season for the national team. So I wanted to score more this season.
At the beginning, I just wanted to dribble past one player and then I saw three players coming up to me. I just did one movement and saw I was through. I went through on goal and saw one Copenhagen was still there - but Randal Kolo Muani was to the right of him. I was never passing, impossible. I just kept going, and going and going to the goal. The defender was staying in the middle so I accelerated. Then I was through and had to finish it, or I made the run for nothing.
I knew I had done something special there. I think I will be one of the Puskas nominees. I think it's similar to Sonny's goal which won it. I spoke to him about it, he says his goal is better. Sometimes you can joke about it, he texted me the day after.
On Spurs' season so far…
We started the season really well, played a couple of good games. But there have been ups and downs and it's not going really well at the moment.
It's really important that we get out of this. We just need to get some points. The last games, we've been losing too much in my opinion. This needs to change.
On Spurs winning just 15 points at home in 2025…
That's really difficult to say why. If we knew the problem with the home form, we'd do something about it. We don't win easily at home, I don't know exactly what it is.
It's something as a player group that we need to change, people need to be scared to come to our stadium and sometimes we haven't had the feeling opposition teams have this. It's something we need to do together.
You speak sometimes about it with the players: is there something going on in the player group? But I have no clue what the exact point is why we struggle at home. That's just something we need to change.
James Maddison has unfortunately been out for a long time, Dejan Kulusevski's been out for a long time, Dom Solanke has also been out for a long time - that's three important players for us.
When they come back, hopefully things are going to change. But we can't blame injuries for our home form being this bad. Because 15 points, that's only five wins. That's not acceptable, that's something we really need to change.
On what Spurs' 2026 aims are…
First we need to make sure we play with stability, that we play more consistently. There are too many ups and downs.
Then we just want to play Europe next year, that's the big aim - it's where this club needs to play. There's the FA Cup still to play for, a lovely competition. And we're still in the Champions League.
And me personally, I just want to be fit for the whole season. And then there's the World Cup. We have some great defenders at the moment with the Netherlands, there's some tough decisions to make for the gaffer.
I want to be there, my first World Cup would be an unbelievable experience. I was there two years ago for the Euros, another massive thing for me personally. And our chances? We have a really good team but other countries are really strong. You can have one day where you have an off day and you can go back home.
