Tottenham are far more keen to sign 22-year-old player than Liverpool now.
Tottenham Hotspur have overtaken Liverpool in the race to sign Wolfsburg defender Micky van de Ven.
The centre-back has been rumoured to be one of Liverpool’s main targets for the summer window. But over the past few days, Spurs have begun a big push to sign him themselves.
Now, journalist Ben Jacobs has told Tottenham Fan Chris Cowlin that the North London side are ‘more serious’ than the Reds over Van de Ven.
Tottenham have explored this deal on the player side. It’s pretty concrete from what I understand,” Jacobs says. “I would call him – now Maddison is in – really one of Tottenham’s top priorities if they can get him. And you will hear a lot about Liverpool but Spurs are more advanced one this one or more serious.
“They have reached out to explore the terms of the deal. They have definitely already held talks with his representatives and now we have to see how things progress on the club to club side.
“But this one is a very real possibility and sources at Spurs do indicate that he’s quite high up on the list of potential targets.”
Spurs push ahead for Van de Ven
Liverpool don’t make decisions about potential signings off the back of one or two displays. But if they did watch Van de Ven at the U21 Euros this summer, you can understand why they’d cool any interest in him. The 22-year-old had a rough old time.
The Netherlands generally were poor, so he wasn’t alone in that. To crash out in the group stage when going in as one of the tournament favourites doesn’t reflect well on any of the players, though.
As one of the leaders of the group, Van de Ven has to take some responsibility.
Ironically, his country’s early exit from the tournament could make the centre-back easier to sign this summer. So, perhaps Spurs will be counting their blessings there.
From a Liverpool point of view though, they’ve clearly been a little spooked by something.
This deal had looked like a pretty straight-forward one to do. If Tottenham are the only competition, then you’d back the Reds to come out on top. With the man who brought Van de Ven to Germany in 2021 – Jorg Schmadtke – now on board at Liverpool, the Reds even seemed to.
But obviously, they’re not quite convinced by something. A few would be disappointed to see him go to a direct Premier League rival, but we’ll trust the club. As long as they’ve got someone else lined up, no problem.
