Recent Tottenham Hotspur scout Leonardo Gabbanini has raved about summer signing Micky van de Ven after a strong start to the season.
Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven is the defensive version of Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland.
That is the verdict of former Tottenham Hotspur scout Leonardo Gabbanini, who has raved about Van de Ven.
Tottenham wanted a left-footed centre back over the summer and chose to go for Van de Ven.
Spurs forked out £34.5million rising to £43million for Van de Ven, and it looks like money well spent right now.
Micky van de Ven compared to Erling Haaland
Tottenham fans are loving what they are seeing from Van de Ven and Leonardo Gabbanini has offered an insight into his arrival.
Italian talent spotter Gabbanini served as Tottenham’s chief scout before leaving the club in September.
Gabbanini was therefore heavily involved in summer additions like Van de Ven and he has spoken to The Athletic about his arrival.
Gabbanini noted that Tottenham had to ‘predict the future’ with Van de Ven in the hope of seeing him fulfil his potential in North London.
Some inside Tottenham maybe weren’t convinced given the price, but Gabbanini pushed for Van de Ven’s arrival and got his way.
Gabbanini adds that he sees real similarities between Van de Ven and Erling Haaland, believing both are ‘big’, ‘fast’ and ‘angry’, suggesting Van de Ven is the Haaland of defenders in terms of his athletic dominance.
Gabbanini eyed Haaland for Udinese as a kid, so he’s happy to have landed Van de Ven having missed out on the Norwegian.
“When we have a player like Van de Ven, it’s not as simple as, ‘He’s tall and fast’. We have to predict the future,” said Gabbanini. “You need to be sure when (decision makers) start to say, ‘I don’t know, the price is high, he’s young, not in the national team’. Your job is to be there and say, ‘No, go ahead. He will achieve great things’. And this is the thing I’m most proud of at Tottenham, because I didn’t fight for obvious players.”
“He’s big, he’s fast, he’s angry. And this is also what I saw in Van de Ven. I say he’s like Haaland, but a centre-back. So maybe I failed to get one but I’m happy we got the other,” he added.
Tottenham may have their centre back pairing for years to come
Van de Ven has formed an outstanding partnership with Cristian Romero in the early weeks of the season and it looks like they can shine together for a while.
Van de Ven is only 22 whilst Romero is 25, so the pair should have their best football ahead of them.
That’s the hope for Tottenham, who will now hope that Van de Ven can help shackle Haaland when Spurs meet Manchester City.
Their first clash will come in early December with Spurs heading to the Etihad Stadium.
Van de Ven against Haaland promises to be an interesting clash, with Gabbanini seemingly believing that they have very similar attributes despite playing at opposite ends of the pitch.
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