£43m star will not play for Tottenham against Barcelona tonight

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Tottenham Hotspur are on the verge of signing defender Micky van de Ven but he is not part of the squad with Barcelona.

Any ideas of Micky van de Ven making a Tottenham Hotspur debut against Barcelona have been completely ruled out.

That is according to the London Evening Standard, who claim that Wolfsburg defender Van de Ven is not part of the Tottenham squad tonight.

Van de Ven is on the verge of completing a move from Wolfsburg to Tottenham with Sky Sports claiming that he has now completed a medical.

Sky Sports also claim that Tottenham are paying an initial £34.5million (€40million) for Van de Ven, though add-ons could take the deal up to £43million (€50million).

The Dutch defender was spotted in the crowd on Sunday as Tottenham beat Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 in a pre-season friendly.

That left fans optimistic that Van de Ven would be signed up and on the plane to Catalunya to take on Barcelona tonight.

However, it’s now believed that both Van de Ven and fellow incoming signing Alejo Veliz are still waiting on work permits and will not be part of the squad to face the La Liga champions.

Ange Postecoglou surely won’t start Micky van de Ven this weekend

Whilst a start against Barcelona was always going to be unlikely, a substitute appearance would he have been welcomed.

Tottenham are now just days away from the start of the new Premier League season and there is little time for Van de Ven to settle in.

Would Ange Postecoglou throw Van de Ven straight into the team against Brentford?

The Australian has been comfortable with Ben Davies as a left-sided centre back and may well stick with him this weekend.

Opening up with Cristian Romero and new signing Van de Ven ahead of summer addition Guglielmo Vicario sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Maybe Postecoglou can fast-track Van de Ven by really working on the partnership with Romero and Vicario in training this week.

It seems more likely that Van de Ven will be on the bench against Brentford though, and then Postecoglou can look to get him into the team once that opener is out of the way.