Ange Postecoglou has sung the praises of Micky van de Ven after his performance against Crystal Palace, admitting that the sky is the limit for the Dutchman.
We have seen time and again that even experienced centre-backs take a season or even longer to adapt to the intensity and physicality of the Premier League when they first arrive on English shores.
In contrast, Van de Ven has looked completely at home since the second he set foot on the pitch for Spurs, which is particularly surprising given that the 22-year-old arrived at the club with just one season of regular football at the highest level.
In fact, the Netherlands international almost gives the impression that he finds things too easy, given his outstanding physical and technical attributes.
The sky is the limit for Micky Van de Ven
Palace centre-forward Jean-Philippe Mateta was the latest to find out how difficult it is to come up against Van de Ven, with the Tottenham man hardly giving the Frenchman a kick through the game on Saturday.
When Postecoglou was asked if the centre-back was tested physically by Mateta, he told the club’s official website: “I’m not sure about that. I think Mateta was tested physically! Micky has been outstanding all year, and he’s growing all the time, we see it in training. The growth in him, his maturity, his physical capacity, there is just no ceiling for that guy.
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“He was important today. We didn’t have to defend deep, they were going to try to play on the counter-attack and there was going to be a lot of space, and that suits him because of his speed and ability to track people down. I thought he was really important today.”
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Van de Ven might just prove to be one of the best signings that Tottenham have made in years, with the centre-back already being worth more than twice what the club paid for him in the summer.
The Spurs recruitment department and Postecoglou deserve a lot of credit for identifying the 22-year-old as the right fit and having the conviction to pay a reasonably high fee for a relatively inexperienced player.
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