Micky van de Ven continues to earn praise from pundits and fans alike, and now Darren Bent has listed the Tottenham Hotspur defender as one of the five best centre-backs in the Premier League.
Spurs signed the young Dutchman from Wolfsburg last summer as they desperately looked to shore up their defence and find a suitable partner for Cristian Romero.
In van de Ven, they certainly found the answer to those problems. The 23-year-old slotted in alongside Romero with ease and brought an air of composure and calm to the Spurs defence, while catching the eye with his incredible pace.
Van de Ven also turned up with three key goals in his 29 appearances this season (Transfermarkt), and aside from a horror show against Newcastle in April, he was pretty much flawless all year.
Sadly, the defender missed nine games in the middle of the campaign due to a hamstring injury, but he came back in the New Year and looked as good as ever.
Micky van de Ven is one of the best in the league
Speaking to talkSPORT (28/05/24), former Spurs man, Darren Bent, was listing the best defenders in the Premier League, and mentioned van de Ven as one of the top five centre-halves.
He said: “He is up there. I would say [van de Ven] is. Off the top of my head, when it comes to centre-halves, I am thinking, Virgil [Van Dijk], [William] Saliba, Ruben Dias and then it’s like… It’s a good list to choose from, yeah. Those three for me for me would be.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I’d love to know who the final member of Bent’s top five is, but seeing as he’s only picked four, I would say Cristian Romero has to be in there, too. He’s a very different player to Micky, but they both complement each other so perfectly.