Jan Paul van Hecke has already put himself in frame for Tottenham honour after World Cup performances

Jan Paul van Hecke showed Tottenham Hotspur fans what he was all about at the World Cup this summer.

The new £52million Spurs man completed his move from Brighton while the tournament was ongoing, committing his future to the Lilywhites.

Roberto De Zerbi was always keen to land the centre-back after their time together at Brighton, and he could be a part of a new-look defence next season.

Van Hecke was ultimately eliminated with the Netherlands after his nation lost to Morocco on penalties, failing to progress to the Round of 16.

However, the defender was certainly not to blame, and De Zerbi will feel encouraged by what he saw from one of his favourite centre-halves.

With the new season fast approaching, Tottenham may soon be in need of a new captain. Could van Hecke be the man to step up and take the armband?

Jan Paul van Hecke's World Cup stats prove he's captain material

Cristian Romero's future at Tottenham is in extreme doubt, as it looks like he could leave the club very soon.

If he does, the Lilywhites will be in need of a new skipper, so what better man than van Hecke could step up?

The 26-year-old had an average FotMob rating of 7.56 for his four performances at the World Cup, as he managed to get 390 minutes under his belt in North America.

Van Hecke left the tournament with an impressive passing success rate of 92 per cent, while he won the majority of his ground duels at 62.9 per cent.

He also won 66.7 per cent of his aerial duels, while he also made an average of 2.08 tackles per game, which ranked high among other defenders at the competition.

Van Hecke conceded an average of 1.15 goals per game at the tournament, but only conceded 0.83 xG, which suggests he defended better than the results turned out to be in-game.

He was only bettered by three other Netherlands players for overall average rating, including Brian Brobbey (7.74), Virgil van Dijk (7.67) and Cody Gakpo (7.60).

Who is the best centre-back partner for van Hecke?

While van Hecke won't have the luxury of working next to van Dijk at Spurs, he will certainly be able to play next to some top centre-backs.

The club also signed Marcos Senesi after reaching a pre-contract agreement with the Lilywhites earlier in the year, and will challenge others for a starting spot under De Zerbi.

Micky van de Ven and Kevin Danso are also on the books, but it seems as though De Zerbi could opt for a back four formation next season.

Though van de Ven is a fan favourite, Danso finished last season in better statistical form than the former, beating his FotMob rating in each of the last four Premier League games.

It could be that De Zerbi uses this information to try the Austrian alongside van Hecke in a back four next season, but he will be sure to experiment with different combinations.