Former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has made a claim about “unbelievable” defender Micky van de Ven which will strike fear into Spurs fans amid Real Madrid interest.

Van de Ven has been part of Tottenham‘s best centre-back duo since joining the club. When he arrived from Wolfsburg in 2023, he struck up a partnership with Cristian Romero which has seen them play 70 times together.

Injuries and suspensions have not allowed them to consistently pair up, and while Spurs have struggled this season, the pair remain two of their most important players.

The manager who brought him to the club, Postecoglou, has recently detailed the high ceiling of the Dutch defender, despite himself no longer being at Tottenham.

Postecoglou said on Stick to Football: “He can be as good as he wants to be. You watch him at the World Cup. I reckon they’ll play him left-back and he’ll be unbelievable.

“Once he gets going, technically he’s good, and his ability to cover ground is phenomenal. You’d set him up against any striker in the world without any fear that he was going to get outmuscled, and definitely not outrun.”

It’ll be a worry to Tottenham fans that one of their best players is being tipped for such success, given they are 16th in the Premier League and Van de Ven is of interest to Real Madrid.

If he can maintain a top level, there’s no way he should be playing for a side who have battled down towards the bottom of the Premier League for the last two seasons.

A report of late suggested Van de Ven is ‘generating the most buzz’ for Real Madrid at the moment, though they currently don’t want to pay the reported ￡69million asking price.

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There is an alternative, with Tottenham said to be open to a swap if it includes Real winger Rodrygo.

If Van de Ven has the kind of World Cup that Postecoglou is expecting from him, there’ll be more sides in the mix for him and it’ll be all the more difficult for Spurs to keep hold of their star centre-back.

There is also the suggestion that Romero will be out the door this summer, so Spurs could lose both of their preferred centre-back pairing and have a big rebuild on their hands.

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