Micky van de Ven’s father, Marcel, is well-known of their native Netherlands for being one of many lead detectives on Hunted, the TV collection during which the hunters (ie Marcel and his group) observe down contestants who’ve gone on the run. Marcel bought the gig for a purpose. Beforehand, he had labored as an spy for a unit based mostly at a secret location that tackled probably the most infamous criminals within the nation.
So when Marcel talks to his son, who has made such strides since his £34.5m transfer from Wolfsburg to Tottenham final summer season, about the necessity to keep an expert calm always, to just accept the chaos that usually rages round him and embrace it, he does so from a place of some authority.
“Yeah, it’s true, he has helped me,” Van de Ven says, throughout a break from the preparations for Sunday’s dwelling sport in opposition to Nottingham Forest. “If you find yourself a younger man and also you play in huge stadiums, you’re nervous for the primary couple of occasions and he at all times taught me simply to just accept it.
“The recommendation actually helped me once I left Volendam, my membership in Holland, for Wolfsburg [in 2021]. As a result of though I’d performed in huge stadiums, I’d by no means performed in enormous stadiums like these within the Bundesliga and the Premier League.
“My dad was at all times saying, like within the warm-up, simply take pleasure in what you see, the individuals, the vibe of the stadium, every part. Then, after you go in and are available again out, simply change on. Settle for every part that’s happening round you as a result of you recognize it’s going to occur and you may’t do something about it. It’s what I’ve accomplished. I do know it’s going to be chaos. However simply do your job.”
Van de Ven can not say an excessive amount of about his father’s earlier employment. The 22-year-old doesn’t know all the small print, partly as a result of it was some time again, when Van de Ven was “actually younger”. However Marcel has written an autobiography and it has absolutely fleshed out a couple of recollections for his son. “I didn’t know every part that he was doing as a result of it was fairly harmful,” he says. “However whenever you learn it again now within the guide he has bought written …
“He was an spy and he was engaged on the best criminals in Holland. He was doing his work with another individuals – I don’t know what number of however it was not that many. They have been based mostly someplace within the Netherlands and daily he was there. He got here again late and at all times [in] completely different vehicles, you recognize what I imply?
“Then he began to assist out with some TV programmes. I believe you might have Hunted right here in England. There was additionally one which’s referred to as Kidnapped … kids that bought kidnapped to a different nation and he has to take the kids again.”
Wait, what?! “It’s like … I don’t know what occurs … the dad or the mum take a child out of nowhere to a different nation with out speaking to the opposite dad or mum after which my dad and his group … they go there and so they be sure that the child is coming again,” Van de Ven says.
Like many gamers within the Spurs squad, Van de Ven is easy-going firm. Ange Postecoglou has clearly positioned an emphasis on good personalities. Has something fazed Van de Ven since his arrival? There was one second when he attended the World Darts Championship earlier than Christmas and took half in a nine-dart problem in opposition to the legendary MC, Russ Bray, in entrance of a baying crowd – a few of whom have been plainly not Spurs followers.
“I used to be fairly nervous, once I was standing there, the board was additionally additional away than I assumed,” Van de Ven says. “Think about you threw three darts out of the board and everyone is like: ‘What the fuck is that this man doing?’ However at the very least I gained it in opposition to Russ.
“I actually loved it as [Raymond] Van Barneveld was enjoying that night time. My Spurs teammate James Maddison additionally loves darts and I’ve performed typically with him. We performed with Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall however I misplaced so I gained’t discuss this one!”
Van de Ven was recovering from the hamstring tear he suffered against Chelsea on 6 November when he visited Alexandra Palace, though he informed reporters that night time he was near a return. Postecoglou’s face could be an image when he was knowledgeable that his centre-half had given a health replace on the darts and it was spot on, Van de Ven making his comeback within the 2-2 draw at Manchester United on 14 January.
It was as if he had by no means been away. Van de Ven discovered his rhythm instantly at Spurs; his place alongside Cristian Romero, and he was elementary to the group’s 10-match unbeaten run in the beginning of the league season. Since his return, there have been individuals on the membership who’ve come to contemplate him as probably the most indispensable participant.
Van de Ven’s Premier League report reads: W12 D5 L2. When he limped out of the Chelsea sport, the rating had been 1-1. Spurs would lose 4-1. It has been simple to see why Van de Ven is the right match for Postecoglou’s type, along with his physicality, consolation in possession, stamina and tempo on the quilt. Particularly the tempo on the quilt.
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Within the 3-2 home win over Brentford on 31 January, Van de Ven was clocked at 23.23mph; the best velocity by a Premier League participant for the reason that information began to be collected, albeit it was solely in 2020-21. When Usain Bolt set the 100m world record in 2009, his common velocity was 23.35mph.
“It’s genetics,” Van de Ven says. “After I was youthful, I used to be an attacker and I might outsprint everybody. Then there was a interval the place I had a dip. My top was going up quick and I had issues with my knees. I did some work on it and the velocity got here again, the management got here again. However I believe it was principally genetics.”
It actually makes a mockery of the time in 2018-19 when Van de Ven, enjoying a 12 months up for the Volendam Beneath-19s, was informed he may not have a future on the membership he had joined aged 12 as a result of he was not fast sufficient.
“After I was, like, within the Beneath-16s, they have been saying: ‘OK, it’s shut so that you can undergo [to the next year] or we simply drop you off and it’s important to go away,’” Van de Ven says. “They stored enjoying me and enjoying me and I went by means of, by means of. I got here to the Beneath-19s, I performed the entire 12 months however the gaffer of the primary group didn’t see the potential of me.
“He stated: ‘The fellows who’re enjoying proper now are means higher than you. You aren’t quick sufficient.’ That was perhaps probably the most unusual factor for me. I used to be like: ‘Ehhh?!’ He was saying: ‘We don’t actually see the potential so that you can turn into a first-team participant.’ I used to be 18 [in April 2019] and I spoke with my dad. I stated: ‘Perhaps it’s higher if I’m going to some excessive beginner league stage, play there and who is aware of what’s going to occur.’ He was like: ‘No. Simply preserve pushing.’”
Every part would change when Volendam appointed Wim Jonk because the supervisor in the summertime of 2019. He gave Van de Ven his first skilled contract and promoted him to the Beneath-21s – because the captain. By early October, he had bumped him up once more into the primary group, which performed within the second tier of Dutch soccer.
It could be improper to say that Van de Ven has not appeared again since. His departure from Volendam, after a stellar season in 2020-21, was messy. Mino Raiola, who represented him on the time, claimed that the membership had put an unrealistic price on Van de Ven and the agent took them to courtroom, searching for a dissolution of the contract. He misplaced. Volendam would maintain out for €3.5m from Wolfsburg, plus a major sell-on clause. Nor was Van de Ven’s first season at Wolfsburg successful. Hampered by damage, he made solely 5 appearances.
But when his second season at Wolfsburg was a triumph, he has upped the ante nonetheless additional with Spurs, profitable his first caps for the Netherlands alongside the way in which. Now for the subsequent step – a Champions League end. It continues to be unclear as as to whether fifth within the Premier League will deliver with it a spot in subsequent season’s enlarged Champions League. It’s going to most definitely come all the way down to a battle of the coefficients between England and Germany, with lots on the quarter-finals between Arsenal and Bayern Munich within the Champions League and West Ham and Bayer Leverkusen within the Europa League.
Van de Ven has a easy answer. “We all know in regards to the coefficients, you have a look at it however it’s not like I’ll be supporting West Ham,” he says. “We aren’t specializing in fifth. We need to come fourth and even greater. We need to end able the place we ensure.”
