Tottenham wait on Wolfsburg green light for Micky van de Ven deal, medical days away – Fabrizio Romano
Wolfsburg defender Micky van de Ven will undergo a medical with Tottenham “in the coming days”, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The Italian transfer guru reported via Twitter on Friday (4 August) that Spurs are in advanced talks to sign the 22-year-old Netherlands international and the Londoners are now waiting for Wolfsburg to give the “final green light” for the deal to be completed.
As well as signing van de Ven, Spurs are also closing in on the signing of young Rosario Central striker Alejo Veliz, who’ll also have a medical soon.
Excitement
It’s been quite a good transfer window for Tottenham so far.
Ange Postecoglou has come in as manager and signed Dejan Kulusevksi on a permanent basis from Juventus and also added James Maddison, Manor Solomon and Guglielmo Vicario to his squad.
Harry Winks is the only senior player to leave this summer and Harry Kane remains a Tottenham player.
Signing van de Ven would only enhance the squad further.
The former Volendam defender has shone brightly in Germany with Wolfsburg, appearing 33 times for them in the Bundesliga last season.
Van de Ven helped Wolfsburg keep clean sheets against Frankfurt, Borussia Dortmund – who he also scored against – and Bayer Leverkusen as the Lower Saxony side finished eighth in the standings.
Stats by WhoScored show that van de Ven completed 1.3 tackles per game last season and was only dribbled past 0.3 times per appearance in the Bundesliga.
He blocked 0.7 shots per game, which ranks him joint-14th out of Bundesliga centre-backs with more than 10 appearances last season. That puts him on a par with Bayern Munich’s Matthijs de Lijt and RB Leipzig’s Willi Orban and above Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels and Manchester City-bound Josko Gvardiol.
Van de Ven also completed 88.3 per cent of his passes last season – a figure higher than any of his Wolfsburg teammates in the league [WhoScored].
Spurs’ need for fresh impetus in their defence will no doubt be settled by the signing of van de Ven.
It’ll be an expensive deal at £43million but due to the Dutchman’s age and ability, it could be money well spent.
In other Tottenham news, Veliz needs to adapt to English football to flourish in North London.