Micky van de Ven is out to crack the case of the drought of Tottenham – with the support of his detective father.
The Dutch defender lets his old man monitor him in Bilbao, while Spurs seems to end up for 17 years without silverware by beating Manchester United in the Europa League final of tomorrow.
Marcel van de Ven is a former undercover agent who later became famous in the Dutch version of TV program Hunted.
Despite the busy schedule of Van de Ven Sr, he still had time to go to all his son matches from the youth level.
Micky, 24, said: “Every game he was there, even when I was younger. You have to ask him how he managed that!
“Midweek, usually he was gone because he had a job and couldn't tell everything.
“But during the weekend when we had to play, the most important part, he was always there.
“Literally until today he is everywhere. Every home game, every way, he wants to be everywhere. He always tries to be there.
“It was my father, my mother and sister who were the ones who kept pushing me.
“Because even when you are younger, you get a new Gaffer every year.
“Then the people around you are those with whom you are close by.
“Even now, nowadays after a game they help me. They are:” You could do this better or that better, “they are still the people who help me.”
Marcel may always have supported his son's trip in football, but Micky was not always so well supported by the professionals who supervise his development.
In fact, there was a feeling at his first club -Volendam that a teenager of the Ven did not have the opportunity to make it as a football player.
Only when former Sheffield Wednesday star Wim Jonk became his manager at the second Dutch Club that the young defender received his big break, which led him to Wolfsburg in 2021 and then to Spurs in the summer of 2023.
And Van de Ven, also Dutch International, still uses written off in his teenage years as a motivation to succeed today.
On those who believed that he would not get the figure, he added: “That is crazy.
“At Volendam there were people who did not have confidence in me and now I am standing here. I have proven that they were wrong.”
Van de Ven's Spurs defensive partner Cristian Romero also once revealed that he was so miserable in his own first club Belgrano in Argentina that he was considering stopping the game.
Romero, nicknamed Cuti, then won the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 next to the iconic Lionel Messi.
Tottenham Ace van de Ven continued: “There are many players in their career who get doubts from several people.
“It depends a bit on what time in your career you doubt, of course.
“I had doubts when I was 17, 18 years old.
'Then you might have to think about something else. Then it's all up to yourself and the people around you to keep pushing.
“That is what Cuti probably did and that is what I did, and now we are both here.
“And Cuti won a world cup. I am now in a European final. It's a wonderful thing.”
Now Van de Ven is determined to change Tottenham's trophy 'Spursy' tag with victory over the Red Devils.
He said: “It would of course be a big thing.
“Everyone knows that when you become a member of Tottenham, you get:” Ah, you're not going to win a trophy, “people who say you'll be trophy for the rest of your career.
“All the guys who came here were like:” We're going to change something about this club. “
“It was the Gaffer and it was the whole team that said:” We're going to come here and change something “.
“For us it is now the task to let this happen in Bilbao.”
Van de Ven could stand up against his countryman Matthijs de Ligt, 25, in Bilbao-on condition that the United Center-Back is suitable for playing.
De Ligt is perhaps only a year older, but he is a hero for Van de Ven, who used to see him play for Ajax as a supporter in the stands when both teenagers were.
Ironically, it was Tottenham's unforgettable comeback victory against Ajax in the semi-final of the Champions League 2019-to Lucas Moura scored a second half Hattrick and Spurs won on road goals that strikes the most in his memory.
Van de Ven explained: “The first to pop up in my head is the match against Tottenham.
“I was in the stadium. He played that game.
“These games that I can remember are more of the Champions League when Ajax went to the semi -final. He played incredible.
“If you are a young child, you look at him – captain at the age of 18, do an incredible job. Then you think:” I want to be the way he. “
Spurs has had a terrible competition campaign, with a record 21 defeats.
Even if they beat United, Boss Ange Postecoglou will leave the club.
Yet Van de Ven thinks that the Aussie has proven its value by bringing the club to only his second European final in 41 years.
He added: “We have been behind the Gaffer since the first day, since he came here.
“He showed his quality, he brought us to a European final.
“Of course he gets a lot of doubt from the media and we see these things.
“But I think he has proven that all you are wrong and we are in a European final, so hopefully we can cancel the trophy. Not only for us but also for him.”
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