Tottenham's Struggle: The Future of Micky van de Ven
Tottenham’s slide from the self-styled “Big Six” is no longer a whisper in north London corridors. It is being said out loud now, and not just by frustrated supporters.
Back-to-back 17th-placed finishes have left scars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Ange Postecoglou briefly dulled the pain with a Europa League triumph that ended a 17-year wait for major silverware, but that high only served to underline how little else there has been to cling to.
Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor came and went without leaving any meaningful imprint on the pitch. The mood darkened, the football drifted, and the club that once measured itself against title challengers found itself staring over its shoulder at the relegation trapdoor.
Roberto De Zerbi arrived and, to his credit, stopped the bleeding. Spurs clung on to their Premier League status on the final day, surviving by the thinnest of margins while across north London, Arsenal were lifting the title. One club parading the trophy, the other exhaling in relief. The gap between old rivals has rarely felt so stark.
This is the landscape in which Tottenham now try to “awaken a sleeping giant”, as the cliché goes. The reality is harsher. To move forward, Spurs may have to sell. High-profile names will attract offers. Fresh faces will be needed. The churn of another transfer window is coming.
At the heart of that debate sits Micky van de Ven.
The Dutch centre-back, linked with Liverpool, has already become central to Spurs’ fragile rebuild. Former Tottenham full-back Alan Hutton, speaking to GOAL, made it clear he believes Van de Ven is non-negotiable.
“That's one guy that I think they have to keep, in my opinion,” Hutton said. For a club short on leaders, he sees the 23-year-old as a cornerstone. “If they want to build and be stronger for next season, he's your captain in waiting because I think [Cristian] Romero will probably be off. So they need to keep these kind of guys to build around.”
That is the dilemma. Spurs know that if they cash in on Van de Ven, they will not simply be losing a defender. They will be ripping out part of the spine De Zerbi has started to trust.
“If you did cash in on him and he goes to another Premier League team or whatever, you have to replace that guy and that's not going to be easy,” Hutton warned. Tottenham’s recent history in the market backs him up. Replacing quality has often proved far more complicated than selling it.
The tension is obvious: ambitious players want the highest stage, and Tottenham are no longer on it. Hutton accepts that reality. “It's a difficult situation because these guys want to play at the highest level possible and it's going to probably take a number of windows, I feel, for Spurs to get back to that sort of level, but they have to keep the likes of Van de Ven if they want to do that.”
Liverpool’s interest only sharpens the focus. A club entrenched in the Champions League picture circling one of Tottenham’s few undisputed successes of recent seasons is a reminder of how far the Londoners have slipped.
“He'd be an outstanding signing,” Hutton said of the Anfield talk. “I really like him as a player. Strength, his running power, his speed, some of the goals that we've seen him score - I know it doesn't happen every week, but it's quite incredible.
“He’s good with the ball, technically good. He literally ticks all the boxes. He should be playing with a Champions League team, in my opinion. So I think that's the number one priority, to try and keep hold of him.”
That is the crux for Tottenham. To climb again, they must first stop the slide. That means holding on to the few players who look capable of operating at the level they aspire to reach. Lose Van de Ven, and the rebuild starts with another hole in the back line and another summer spent scrambling for replacements.
The wider question hangs over all of this: are Spurs still a “Big Six” club, or is that label now just a relic of a different era?
Hutton does not sugar-coat his answer. “I don't think so, if I'm totally honest,” he said. “I think you have to show that mentality of a squad that can go and compete regularly at the top end of the table and they've not done that. It's quite as simple as that.”
The stadium is full, the balance sheets are healthy, the commercial operation hums along. From the outside, Tottenham still look like a powerhouse. On the pitch, the picture is brutally different.
“Probably if you look at the finances and money that's coming into the club, you'd say the business side of it has been run really well,” Hutton admitted. “But unfortunately that's not gone onto the pitch for them and they've really struggled. So at this moment in time, I don't see them as a ‘Big Six’ team.”
That is the reality Spurs now confront. Keep Micky van de Ven and they at least hold on to a defender who looks built for the level they once took for granted. Lose him, and the club that used to chase the Champions League will be left asking an uncomfortable question: how do you fight your way back to the elite when the elite keep taking your best players?
