Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has said that he is excited by the prospect of playing against Manchester City star Erling Haaland.
The Dutchman joined the north London club during the previous summer transfer window from Wolfsburg in a deal worth £43m.
Since then, the 22-year-old has become a prominent figure in Ange Postecoglou’s side, completing the full 90 minutes in all 10 of their Premier League games.
Now, the centre-back has shared some light on what the Spurs figure was thinking about one particular Premier League star back when he joined his current side.
Van de Ven relishing Haaland battle
Speaking in a recent video published on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, Van de Ven had this to say when asked who he was excited to play against when he signed for Spurs.
He said: “I would say Haaland because I think now he is the best striker in the world. You want to play against the best, you want to see your level against the best so I think it’s a good challenge for me to play against Haaland.”
Since joining the Manchester club, Haaland has scored 65 goals in 68 appearances across all competitions, winning four major trophies in the process.
Having recently come second in the 2023 Ballon d’Or rankings behind eight-time winner Lionel Messi, this highlights how much of an impressive season the Norwegian had last term.
Bearing in mind how the 23-year-old has has more shots at goal (36) and shots on target (20) than any other player in the league this season ahead of this weekend’s fixtures, it’s safe to say that Van de Ven will certainly have a challenge on his hands if the two players end up facing off against each other when Spurs play City later in the campaign.
However, with Spurs having yet to lose a league game this season, it could be said that Haaland and the rest of his City teammates could well find it hard to get a positive result against Postecoglou’s side.
