Ledley on Micky van de Ven: “I love everything about him”

Ledley King has given his seal of approval to Micky van de Ven after the defender’s impressive debut campaign.

Snapped up from Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg in the summer, Micky settled immediately into life at Spurs and in the Premier League, delivering a string of outstanding performances alongside Cristian Romero as we won eight and drew two of our first 10 matches to go top of the Premier League.

Unfortunately, Micky was then one of four casualties in our first league loss to Chelsea on 6 November that saw him out until January with a hamstring injury, James Maddison also sidelined until the New Year and both Cuti and Destiny Udogie sent off.

Micky, 23, went on to make 27 starts in the Premier League and 29 appearances in total, his performances recognised by our supporters with a clean sweep of Player of the Season awards.

They were also recognised by Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman, who handed Micky his first cap back in October, his first start last week and he's part of the Dutch squad heading to Germany for UEFA EURO 24.

One of those fans wowed by Micky’s displays was legendary former skipper Ledley King, who played the majority of his 323-match career at Spurs in the same centre-back position.

“If I’m honest, he’s shocked me!” stated Ledley during an appearance on our Warm Up show at the end of last season. “There are not many times you get a young, left-footed, centre-half who is rapid, and you don’t know too much about him.

"I didn’t know too much about him... so, for him to be here and to be of the quality he is, it’s really impressive. He’s impressed everyone, he’s been fantastic... scoring goals as well as well as defending! I love everything about him.

“First and foremost, he’s very comfortable on the ball, left footers always look nice, regardless of what position they play in, and he has a nice left foot. It’s his speed though, his recovery speed as well as when he’s bringing the ball out.

“That’s such a big thing, especially when we want to play such an attacking style of football, to have his speed at the back makes everyone feel so secure.

“We’ve seen Cuti trying to bomb on, that’s what he loves to do, it’s part of his game, playing forward and joining in, or just making a run, that’s his style of play. So, to have someone like van de Ven at the back gives you that security.

“I don’t expect to see anyone outrun him any time soon! I can’t see anyone beating him at the moment. His pace... I think he could run in the 100-metre final, and he wouldn’t finish last! That’s how fast he is. It’s actually quite funny to watch people try to outrun him. He gets quicker, quicker and quicker!”