Micky Van de Ven reveals his favourite position – Centre-back or left-back

Micky Van de Ven has been deployed at both centre-back and left-back for club and country over the past year, but the Netherlands international has now revealed which is his favourite.

Micky Van de Ven struggled against Brighton

Van de Ven enters the international break off the back of a difficult display against Brighton in the Premier League. In fact, the entire left side of Tottenham’s defence had a torrid day at the Amex.

Having been 2-0 up at half-time following an imperious first 45 minutes, the Spurs defence proceeded to collapse under 18 minutes of Brighton pressure.

While Van de Ven is known for his unbeatable speed on the retreat, his one-v-one defending left a lot to be desired in the second half against Brighton.

Centre-back or left-back?

Van de Ven made a name for himself in the Bundesliga as a central defender for Wolfsburg, but has been known to drift out left when needed.

Spurs deployed Van de Ven as a left-back at the end of last season when Destiny Udogie was out injured, while he featured there numerous times for the Netherlands at Euro 2024.

However, it appears the flying Dutchman prefers his primary centre-half role above all else. In an interview with ESPN this week, he said: “I can play in both positions. You can fill in for yourself.

“I prefer to play the central defender. But that’s logical when you look at the games I played for Tottenham and Wolfsburg. Nathan is injured and Jurrien is injured. I can also play the left back, so that’s not a problem.”

Micky Van de Ven and Virgil Van Dijk

The Netherlands have an embarrassment of riches in the central defensive position, including Van Dijk, Van de Ven, Matthijs De Ligt, Stefan De Vrij, Nathan Ake, Jurrian Timber, and more.

However, Van de Van has rarely been chosen to partner Van Dijk in the middle, despite it seeming like a match made in heaven. The Spurs star has now opened up on that prospect.

He said: “I’ll let the coach decide if he wants to do that. We’ll have to see. Virgil is a fantastic defender, so I wouldn’t mind playing alongside him.”

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