Tottenham Hotspur look like a completely different side under Ange Postecoglou and the turnaround since the end of the Antonio Conte era is pretty remarkable.
Few Tottenham fans would say that they enjoyed Conte-ball last season.
Tottenham weren’t particularly exciting to watch and fans can tolerate that style of play to an extent as long as results are positive.
Once you lose the results, the scrutiny mounts and that is how Conte met his demise as Tottenham’s results faltered.
Spurs decided to go in a different direction when replacing Conte, taking a gamble on Ange Postecoglou.
The Australian had won trophies in Japan and Scotland, but the Premier League is a different beast.
So far, the results have been pretty good; Tottenham sit fourth in the Premier League and have a great shot at returning to Champions League action despite losing Harry Kane last summer.
Much of that is down to Tottenham’s recruitment as key players have been added in Guglielmo Vicario, Brennan Johnson and even Destiny Udogie, who returned from his loan at Udinese last summer.
James Maddison on confusing Tottenham signing
Then there is defender Micky van de Ven, who is arguably the top signing of the lot.
The Dutchman joined from Wolfsburg in a deal worth up to £43million with Tottenham finally landing their left-footed centre back of the future.
We could hardly blame Tottenham fans if they weren’t too well up on Van de Ven as he arrived in North London.
The former Volendam ace had shown huge potential in Germany but wasn’t one of the absolute top defenders in the Bundesliga last season.
Tottenham paid for that potential and have seen Van de Ven become a star, developing his game rapidly in the Premier League.
Tottenham playmaker James Maddison – another of the summer signings – has now admitted not even knowing who Van de Ven was when Spurs signed him.
Speaking to Football London, Maddison praised Tottenham’s recruitment team for signing Van de Ven, accepting that he should have known about such a ‘special’ player.
Maddison added that Van de Ven is ‘brilliant’ in Tottenham training, absolutely raving about the centre back after his goal against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“He is a special player, he is top level and credit to the recruitment team because I had never heard of him before we signed him,” said Maddison. “The joke is on me really because a player of that calibre, I should probably have heard of in Europe. A brilliant player, a brilliant trainer, a brilliant lad and a really good guy,” he added.
Micky van de Ven has scary potential
The terrifying thing for Premier League attackers is that Van de Ven is still only 22.
The Tottenham defender should have years and years of development to come and he has the talent to become one of the world’s best.
Van de Ven is big and strong, whilst we have seen that few attackers have a chance of outpacing him.
That blend – coupled with greater reading of the game as he hopefully develops – and Tottenham could have a superstar on their hands.
That £43million deal is already looking like a bargain and it may only get better with time if he develops as we believe he can.
The post James Maddison claims 22-year-old is brilliant in Tottenham training after transfer confusion appeared first on HITC.
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