Spurs struck gold on “ridiculous” dynamo

There is no getting away from it: this season has been a disaster for Tottenham Hotspur.

Ange Postecoglou’s side crashed out of the FA Cup against Aston Villa, were demolished in their League Cup semi-final against Liverpool and are currently 12th in the Premier League.

Now, while much of the team’s misfortune could and probably should be put down to their dreadful injury record, it’s hard not to criticise some of those who have remained fit for subpar performances.

With that said, and while it might not feel like it, the future is bright for Spurs, as they have some exciting young talents in the squad and a number of first-teamers worth an awful lot of money, including one who has won comparisons to a Premier League star with an eye-watering price tag.

Spurs’ most valuable players

So, before getting to the player in question, it’s worth looking at which Spurs players currently have the highest valuations, and perhaps to nobody’s surprise, the number one spot belongs to Cristian Romero.

According to Football Transfers, the no-nonsense centre-back is worth up to €80.7m, which converts to around £67m, and while that is an enormous sum of money for a defender, it’s hard to argue it’s not justified.

For example, while he’s had plenty of injury problems this season, the former Atalanta star is undoubtedly one of the Lilywhites’ most important players, both for his performances and leadership.

Since moving to N17, the 26-year-old titan has made 112 appearances for the club, in which he’s scored seven goals and provided one assist.

Moreover, he was named one of the club’s co-vice-captains in 2023, and away from Tottenham, he’s won a World Cup and two Copa América titles, which feels like more than enough justification for his lofty valuation.

Moving from defence to attack now, and the second most valuable player in Postecoglou’s squad at the moment is Brennan Johnson, who Football Transfers have priced at up to €69.5m, which is about £58m, and since moving to N17 in 2023, he’s probably just about justified that number.

In his first season, the Welshman racked up a tally of five goals and ten assists in 34 appearances, but this year, he’s taken it up another level and is currently the team’s top scorer with 12 goals and three assists in 33 games.

Moreover, at just 23 years old, there are still a few years in which he could further improve, which might also be considered in his valuation. With all that said, another star in the squad has been compared to a Premier League star who is worth even more than Johnson and Romero.

Spurs’ £82m superstar in the making

While this season has been far from ideal, there are a number of other players alongside Romero and Johnson who could be a part of the next great Spurs team, like Dominic Solanke, Djed Spence and Mikey Moore.

However, in this instance, the player is the club’s other first-choice centre-back, Micky van de Ven.

The Dutch international completed his £43m move from VfL Wolfsburg in the summer of 2023 and, within just a few games, became one of the best players in the squad, thanks to his defensive nous, quality on the ball and blisteringly quick pace.

In fact, he’s so fast he set a Premier League record for the fastest sprint when he hit 37.38km/h against Brentford last year.

On top of this, he has also been likened to William Saliba by FBref, which compared players in similar positions in the Premier League last season, then created a list of the ten most comparable players for each one, and concluded that the Frenchman was the fourth most similar centre-back to the Lilywhites ace.

The best way to see where this comparison has come from is to look at the underlying metrics in which the pair ranked closely, including, but not limited to, non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive passes, passing accuracy, passes into the final third and penalty area, shots and passes blocked, ball recoveries and more, all per 90.

While the comparison to an Arsenal star is probably not one the Lilywhites faithful will welcome with open arms – understandably so – it is encouraging for the Dutchmam’s future price tag.

For example, the Gunners’ number two is currently valued at up to a whopping €99m by Football Transfers, which converts to about £82m, and if he’s so statistically similar to Tottenham’s star defender, who’s to say he too won’t be worth as much in the future.

Ultimately, things might not be going well for Spurs this season, but their squad is full of exciting and promising players, with Van de Ven very much one of them.

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