View: Ange handed pre-season boost as 91% Tottenham star set for first-team return

Pre-season is up and running for Tottenham Hotspur but there are still several for Ange Postecoglou’s side not yet back in first-team training.

While the likes of Son Heung-min and Djed Spence have been impressing in the opening games ahead of the new campaign, players who have featured at this summer’s international tournaments have had some extended time off.

However, that is set to change in the next couple of days after the Spurs boss revealed that several players would be returning to begin their preparations ahead of the start of the Premier League.

Writing on X on Friday (2 August) The Spurs Web said: “Ange Postecoglou has confirmed Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Rodrigo Bentancur will return to THFC this week (and presumably Giovani Lo Celso).”

While having all those players back ahead of the new campaign will be a boost, getting Van de Ven back in the building ahead of the league season will be huge for Postecoglou’s side.

Is Micky van de Ven back in Tottenham Hotspur training?

The 23-year-old was one of his Spurs’ best players last season and that was demonstrated in his last full 90 minutes of the campaign as he starred at left-back in a 3-0 win over Sheffield United.

Van de Ven completed 91 per cent of his 70 attempted passes in the game, 15 of which found a teammate in the final third as he helped drive the Lilywhites up the pitch, according to Fotmob.

Out of possession, the Dutch international was just as impactful as he won 100 per cent of his attempted tackles and came away with possession in four of his seven ground and aerial duels against the Blades.

When deployed as a centre-back, he was just as reliable. Against Burnley towards the end of the season, he won 100 per cent of his ground duels and came away with possession from 100 per cent of his tackles.

Few central defenders in the Premier League are as consistent without the ball as the 23-year-old who sits in the 88th percentile of his positional peers for tackles won per 90 minutes, according to Fbref.

If the Dutchman enters a challenge, he more often than not comes away with the ball. On average last term he tackled 72.7 per cent of dribblers he faced, a figure better than 78 per cent of centre-backs.

Since Postecoglou arrived in North London, Tottenham have adopted a higher defensive line and this tactical decision is what makes Van de Ven so important to the Australian’s plans.

According to the Premier League, no player in the division last term recorded a higher top speed than the Spurs star managed against Brentford where he was clocked at 37.38km/h.

The next quickest was former Spurs man Kyle Walker who registered an impressive 37.32km/h.

On top of that, the 23-year-old is incredibly reliable with the ball at his feet. Last term, he completed 93.8 per cent of all the passes he attempted, a figure which sits him in the top two per cent of his peers.

Are Spurs close to any new signings?

The stat that shows Van de Ven’s importance to Spurs more than anything is just how successful Postecoglou’s side was when he featured and when he didn’t.

According to StatMuse, the Lilywhites won 45.5 per cent of their Premier League matches without the Dutchman but came away with all three points in 55.6 per cent of the games where he featured.

That might not sound like a lot, but in the race for the top four and Champions League places, that 10 per cent difference could well be enough to make a massive impact.

Therefore Postecoglou and his coaching staff will have be boosted immensely by Van de Ven’s return as well as the arrival of both Romero and Bentancur in the coming days.

In other Tottenham news, Jacob Ramsey could reject a move to Spurs after a new transfer update out of Aston Villa this summer

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